SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Texas refineries and petrochemical plants affected by Hurricane Harvey have released nearly 1 million pounds of seven dangerous air pollutants, and upwards of 2 million pollutants overall, according to industry data. (Photo: IIP Photo Archive/flickr/cc)
Analysis: Harvey Triggered Release of Nearly a Million Pounds of Toxic Air Pollutants
"Oil-industry facilities spewed thousands of tons of toxic chemicals into defenseless communities, despite ample warning about hurricane risk to this area."
Sep 01, 2017
Texas refineries and petrochemical plants affected by Hurricane Harvey have released nearly a million pounds of seven especially dangerous air pollutants, according to a new analysis released Friday.
"The petroleum industry seems utterly unwilling to take responsibility for operating safely, even as climate change makes storms like Harvey more destructive."
--Shaye Wolf, Center for Biological Diversity
"Staggering amounts of benzene, 1,3-butadiene, hexane, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, toluene, and xylene--estimated at 951,000 pounds so far--were emitted" at "several dozen petroleum industry facilities," the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) said in a statement.
According to the group, "these seven chemicals are all toxic air pollutants documented to cause serious harms to human health, and several cause cancer."
The analysis is based on initial industry reports submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality through August 31, and the group said it expects these numbers to continue to rise in the coming days.
Expressing concern for communities in the immediate vicinities of the facilities, Shaye Wolf, the scientist who compiled the analysis, said: "Oil-industry facilities spewed thousands of tons of toxic chemicals into defenseless communities, despite ample warning about hurricane risk to this area."
"Dangerous flaring from coastal refineries has become routine during major storms," Wolf added. "The petroleum industry seems utterly unwilling to take responsibility for operating safely, even as climate change makes storms like Harvey more destructive."
"Long before Harvey made landfall, environmental groups and scientists had been warning of the disastrous effects that could result from a massive storm like Harvey hitting Texas, the heart of the U.S. petrochemical industry," Common Dreams previously reported.
The CBD analysis confirms alarming first-hand reports that started pouring out of Texas earlier this week.
Overall, refineries and petrochemical facilities "may have released as much as 2 million pounds of potentially hazardous airborne pollutants from oil refineries and other facilities in the Houston area," NBC News reported on Wednesday.
"In one of the largest accidental releases, Chevron Phillips Chemical reported that it may have released more than 745,000 pounds of contaminants into the air as it shut down its Cedar Bayou Plant in Baytown, Texas," NBC News noted.
"At least 25 plants have either shut down or experienced production issues" because of Harvey, Grist reported, and not all the hazardous emissions are the result of storm damage. In fact, a notable amount of troubling emissions has come from several facilities closing ahead of the storm. As Grist explained:
Petrochemical plant shutdowns are a major cause of abnormal emission events. The short-term impacts of these events can be "substantial," according to a 2012 report from the Environmental Integrity Project, because "upsets or sudden shutdowns can release large plumes of sulfur dioxide or toxic chemicals in just a few hours, exposing downwind communities to peak levels of pollution that are much more likely to trigger asthma attacks and other respiratory systems."
Air Alliance Houston's Executive Director Bakeyah Nelson is concerned about how these shutdowns will affect nearby communities already suffering from Harvey. "The excess amount of air pollution puts communities in close proximity to these plants at risk, especially people with chronic health conditions," she said. She also noted that communities closest to these sites in Houston--and in general--are disproportionately low-income and minority. Some residents have already been complaining of "unbearable" petrochemical-like smells
On Thursday, two explosions--followed by "plumes of black smoke"--were reported at an Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas.
After the explosions, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez was heavily criticized for claiming the plumes did not contain toxins and were not dangerous to the community--even though residents within a 1.5-mile radius of the plant were forced to evacuate and urged to "seek medical advice" if they were exposed to the smoke.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Texas refineries and petrochemical plants affected by Hurricane Harvey have released nearly a million pounds of seven especially dangerous air pollutants, according to a new analysis released Friday.
"The petroleum industry seems utterly unwilling to take responsibility for operating safely, even as climate change makes storms like Harvey more destructive."
--Shaye Wolf, Center for Biological Diversity
"Staggering amounts of benzene, 1,3-butadiene, hexane, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, toluene, and xylene--estimated at 951,000 pounds so far--were emitted" at "several dozen petroleum industry facilities," the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) said in a statement.
According to the group, "these seven chemicals are all toxic air pollutants documented to cause serious harms to human health, and several cause cancer."
The analysis is based on initial industry reports submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality through August 31, and the group said it expects these numbers to continue to rise in the coming days.
Expressing concern for communities in the immediate vicinities of the facilities, Shaye Wolf, the scientist who compiled the analysis, said: "Oil-industry facilities spewed thousands of tons of toxic chemicals into defenseless communities, despite ample warning about hurricane risk to this area."
"Dangerous flaring from coastal refineries has become routine during major storms," Wolf added. "The petroleum industry seems utterly unwilling to take responsibility for operating safely, even as climate change makes storms like Harvey more destructive."
"Long before Harvey made landfall, environmental groups and scientists had been warning of the disastrous effects that could result from a massive storm like Harvey hitting Texas, the heart of the U.S. petrochemical industry," Common Dreams previously reported.
The CBD analysis confirms alarming first-hand reports that started pouring out of Texas earlier this week.
Overall, refineries and petrochemical facilities "may have released as much as 2 million pounds of potentially hazardous airborne pollutants from oil refineries and other facilities in the Houston area," NBC News reported on Wednesday.
"In one of the largest accidental releases, Chevron Phillips Chemical reported that it may have released more than 745,000 pounds of contaminants into the air as it shut down its Cedar Bayou Plant in Baytown, Texas," NBC News noted.
"At least 25 plants have either shut down or experienced production issues" because of Harvey, Grist reported, and not all the hazardous emissions are the result of storm damage. In fact, a notable amount of troubling emissions has come from several facilities closing ahead of the storm. As Grist explained:
Petrochemical plant shutdowns are a major cause of abnormal emission events. The short-term impacts of these events can be "substantial," according to a 2012 report from the Environmental Integrity Project, because "upsets or sudden shutdowns can release large plumes of sulfur dioxide or toxic chemicals in just a few hours, exposing downwind communities to peak levels of pollution that are much more likely to trigger asthma attacks and other respiratory systems."
Air Alliance Houston's Executive Director Bakeyah Nelson is concerned about how these shutdowns will affect nearby communities already suffering from Harvey. "The excess amount of air pollution puts communities in close proximity to these plants at risk, especially people with chronic health conditions," she said. She also noted that communities closest to these sites in Houston--and in general--are disproportionately low-income and minority. Some residents have already been complaining of "unbearable" petrochemical-like smells
On Thursday, two explosions--followed by "plumes of black smoke"--were reported at an Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas.
After the explosions, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez was heavily criticized for claiming the plumes did not contain toxins and were not dangerous to the community--even though residents within a 1.5-mile radius of the plant were forced to evacuate and urged to "seek medical advice" if they were exposed to the smoke.
Texas refineries and petrochemical plants affected by Hurricane Harvey have released nearly a million pounds of seven especially dangerous air pollutants, according to a new analysis released Friday.
"The petroleum industry seems utterly unwilling to take responsibility for operating safely, even as climate change makes storms like Harvey more destructive."
--Shaye Wolf, Center for Biological Diversity
"Staggering amounts of benzene, 1,3-butadiene, hexane, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, toluene, and xylene--estimated at 951,000 pounds so far--were emitted" at "several dozen petroleum industry facilities," the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) said in a statement.
According to the group, "these seven chemicals are all toxic air pollutants documented to cause serious harms to human health, and several cause cancer."
The analysis is based on initial industry reports submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality through August 31, and the group said it expects these numbers to continue to rise in the coming days.
Expressing concern for communities in the immediate vicinities of the facilities, Shaye Wolf, the scientist who compiled the analysis, said: "Oil-industry facilities spewed thousands of tons of toxic chemicals into defenseless communities, despite ample warning about hurricane risk to this area."
"Dangerous flaring from coastal refineries has become routine during major storms," Wolf added. "The petroleum industry seems utterly unwilling to take responsibility for operating safely, even as climate change makes storms like Harvey more destructive."
"Long before Harvey made landfall, environmental groups and scientists had been warning of the disastrous effects that could result from a massive storm like Harvey hitting Texas, the heart of the U.S. petrochemical industry," Common Dreams previously reported.
The CBD analysis confirms alarming first-hand reports that started pouring out of Texas earlier this week.
Overall, refineries and petrochemical facilities "may have released as much as 2 million pounds of potentially hazardous airborne pollutants from oil refineries and other facilities in the Houston area," NBC News reported on Wednesday.
"In one of the largest accidental releases, Chevron Phillips Chemical reported that it may have released more than 745,000 pounds of contaminants into the air as it shut down its Cedar Bayou Plant in Baytown, Texas," NBC News noted.
"At least 25 plants have either shut down or experienced production issues" because of Harvey, Grist reported, and not all the hazardous emissions are the result of storm damage. In fact, a notable amount of troubling emissions has come from several facilities closing ahead of the storm. As Grist explained:
Petrochemical plant shutdowns are a major cause of abnormal emission events. The short-term impacts of these events can be "substantial," according to a 2012 report from the Environmental Integrity Project, because "upsets or sudden shutdowns can release large plumes of sulfur dioxide or toxic chemicals in just a few hours, exposing downwind communities to peak levels of pollution that are much more likely to trigger asthma attacks and other respiratory systems."
Air Alliance Houston's Executive Director Bakeyah Nelson is concerned about how these shutdowns will affect nearby communities already suffering from Harvey. "The excess amount of air pollution puts communities in close proximity to these plants at risk, especially people with chronic health conditions," she said. She also noted that communities closest to these sites in Houston--and in general--are disproportionately low-income and minority. Some residents have already been complaining of "unbearable" petrochemical-like smells
On Thursday, two explosions--followed by "plumes of black smoke"--were reported at an Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas.
After the explosions, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez was heavily criticized for claiming the plumes did not contain toxins and were not dangerous to the community--even though residents within a 1.5-mile radius of the plant were forced to evacuate and urged to "seek medical advice" if they were exposed to the smoke.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.