Dear EPA:

We are writing to ask that you give serious attention to the failure of many U.S. refineries to comply with the Clean Air Act. While federal regulations have made gasoline cleaner, pollution continues to foul the air and threaten the health of neighborhoods near refineries. These fenceline communities are home to many of the men and women who work in the industry, and who take great pride in their contribution to our nation’s energy security. These communities ask only that the refining industry’s economic growth in this new century be built upon cleaner technologies, safer manufacturing practices, and a deeper respect for the laws that protect health and the environment.

With a few exceptions, too many U.S. refiners routinely engage in practices that increase pollution and jeopardize public health:

Refineries release much more air pollution than they report. The emission inventories used by EPA and the states to track each plant’s contribution to air pollution typically do not include unpermitted releases from accidents, startups, shutdowns, and maintenance, yet these sometimes exceed permitted pollution levels. Where data is reported, it is often incomplete, incomprehensible, and inaccessible to the very people in surrounding communities who have an urgent need to know what is happening in their own backyards.

Entire emission sources are sometimes unaccounted for due to a variety of agency and industry lapses. For example, EPA has warned that delayed cokers are significant sources of hydrocarbons, but refineries do not report these releases and EPA has not developed emission factors to measure them. Estimates of "fugitive" emissions from leaking components are also notoriously unreliable, and EPA has estimated that 40,000 tons of smog-forming chemicals may escape accounting every year due to poor industry monitoring. EPA bases its emission factors for flares used to control accidental releases on ideal conditions, and does not consider common variables--such as windy weather--that can cause smoking flares, indicating the possibility of poor combustion. While refineries report frequent violations of opacity limits, they rarely indicate how much deadly particulate matter is released during smoking events.

Refineries have increased pollution through unpermitted expansions. U.S. oil refineries have increased their capacity in recent years, and recent announcements make clear that the industry expects to grow further still. This expansion occurs exclusively at existing plants, in industrial neighborhoods already afflicted with chronic pollution from a variety of other sources. The significant modification of old plants is required to be permitted under the Clean Air Act, through a transparent process that involves the local community and results in the installation of state of the art pollution controls. Instead, permitting has come to be treated by too many refiners as an accounting game to be manipulated by lawyers to avoid public scrutiny and the expense of emission controls. Too many refineries have not yet reconciled their appetite for economic growth with their responsibility to provide a clean and safe environment for the communities in which they operate.

Refineries have too much "accidental" air pollution. The Environmental Integrity Project’s review of data from Port Arthur, Texas, documented the frequency and severity of unpermitted emissions from plant startups, shutdowns, maintenance activities and malfunctions (SS/MM). These SS/MM events occur routinely in many industrial communities, and can last for weeks or even months, pouring thousands of tons of excess emissions into the atmosphere and jeopardizing attainment of air quality standards that protect human health. The problem is not limited to Port Arthur or Texas. A recent review of Louisiana data from four refineries documented a total of 5,600 tons from accidents and other unpermitted events in 2002 alone. In many cases, these SS/MM events significantly exceed permitted emission levels. Reviews of data from other states, including Ohio and Pennsylvania, indicate that the problem extends to these areas as well, though citizens there are beset by poor reporting.

Refineries typically route waste gases to flares for destruction during SS/MM events, but Canadian researchers and agencies like the Bay Area Air Quality Management District have questioned whether flares are effectively controlling harmful pollutants. And refinery communities have become accustomed to seeing black smoke pour out of flares and incinerators that are required by law to burn cleanly.

EPA and State Enforcement is too slow. EPA has taken some welcome first steps by targeting refineries for enforcement and negotiating global settlements with a few large companies. But little progress has been made against the most recalcitrant companies. Exxon-Mobil, Citgo, Sunoco, and United refineries have all received notices of violation for serious violations of the Clean Air Act, and some of these notices are five years old. Yet none of these cases have been resolved, and no complaints have been filed asking a court to enforce the law against companies that EPA has identified as being in serious violation of the Clean Air Act. This kind of foot-dragging by the Agency does not encourage companies to take the law seriously.

Too many refineries do not respect their neighbors: Refinery emissions affect the health of of those living next door, as well as millions of residents who live within breathing distance of refinery pollution. Most refiners are located near significant population centers, with residential streets within walking distance of their plants. These neighborhoods live with the hazards of the refining process, as breezes blow contaminants like benzene, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide and other dangerous substances into living rooms and schoolyards. Yet monitoring in these neighborhoods is poor, and residents lack access to the most fundamental information about what is in the air they breathe, and how it may affect their health. Emergency warnings during accidents are unavailable or inadequate, and the response of EPA and state agencies is frequently too slow. These communities lack economic resources or access to decent health care. For too many of these neighborhoods, the Clean Air Act has never arrived.

What can be done to ensure that U.S. refiners prosper without damaging the environment and health of the communities in which they are based? We ask only that the EPA and state environmental agencies make the Clean Air Act work for refinery communities by taking the following actions:

Obtain an Honest Accounting of Emissions. Those who live next to refineries have a fundamental right to know how much they are releasing into the environment.

1. Air pollution from startups, shutdowns, maintenance and malfunctions should be included in the emission inventories required of for refiners and other manufacturers under the Clean Air Act. Texas has modified its law to incorporate these events in its annual emissions survey, and EPA and other states should follow suit.
2. Emissions from SS/MM events should be reported within 24 hours of their occurrence, with final reports due within 10 days of each event. These reports should identify where and why the event occurred, how long it lasted, the amount of each pollutant released per hour and on a daily basis, what steps were taken to minimize pollution during the event, and what actions will be taken to minimize recurrence. This is no more than the law requires, but many refineries do not consistently provide such data.
3. SS/MM reports should be available online, as Texas now requires, and should be made available in public libraries in refinery communities for those who do not have internet access.
4. EPA should develop emission factors from all refinery sources, such as delayed cokers, that do not currently report releases of some contaminants. In the meantime, refineries should remain responsible for using their best estimates to report such releases, as EPA guidance requires.
5. Refiners should be required to measure the concentration and volume of pollutants in waste gases sent to flares, to ensure more accurate mass balance estimates of the contaminants released during flaring. Such flow monitoring is already required by California’s Bay Area Air Quality Management District and some permits. EPA and state agencies should also obtain air samples at the flare tip under realistic operating conditions (e.g., where units are high and flares are smoking) to obtain a truer picture of emissions.
6. Refiners should provide estimates of the total quantity of particulate matter released when opacity limits are violated, or flares are smoking.

Stop the illegal dumping of air pollutants during startups, shutdowns, maintenance, and malfunctions:

1. Under federal law, emissions from malfunctions are excused from enforcement penalty only when they are infrequent, and cannot reasonably be prevented through careful design and maintenance. EPA and state agencies should take enforcement actions against refineries that abuse these limits.
2. Companies are required to use good air pollution control practices to minimize emissions during plant upsets. Flares that smoke frequently during such events do not meet this standard, and should not be excused from enforcement.
3. Under EPA regulations, emissions from startups and shutdowns are planned activities that should be part of routine operations. Startup and shutdown plans should be made part of permit applications, the plans should be subject to review by the public and state permit authorities and emissions from such events should be subject to permit limits. EPA should enforce regulations that require flares used during startups and shutdowns to meet emission limits set by Subpart J of the Clean Air Act.
4. Instead of being burned in flares, sour gases should be routed to sulfur recovery units where sulfur can be safely removed. Sulfur recovery units should have capacity adequate to treat the volume and type of gas received.
5. State plans for implementing the Clean Air Act in nonattainment areas should make the reduction of pollution from SS/MM events part of the enforceable requirements for attaining air quality standards.

Prevent refineries from expanding and increasing pollution without the required permits and emission controls:

1. Section 173(a)(3) of the Clean Air Act prohibits a company from obtaining a New Source Review (NSR) permit in a nonattainment area unless all of its facilities in the state are in compliance with the Clean Air Act, or on a schedule to comply. This requirement should be enforced, not ignored.
2. All major permit applications should be placed online, as states like Indiana and Illinois have already done.
3. Permit reviews should avoid piecemeal decisions that mask the cumulative impact of emissions from refineries on surrounding communities, and consider how proposed projects would add to the total pollution load from existing sources.

EPA should speed up enforcement against recalcitrant companies:

1. If EPA expects refiners to take the law seriously, it should file complaints against companies like Citgo, Exxon-Mobil, Sunoco, and United, and ask a federal court to order compliance and asses penalties. Some of the notices of violation against these companies have been pending for more than five years.
2. If EPA lacks the resources to enforce the Clean Air Act, it should request additional appropriations from Congress, instead of eliminating enforcement staff positions as the Bush Administration continues to do.
3. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has already determined that several of the "accidents" at Exxon-Mobil’s Baytown refinery were illegal because they could have been prevented. EPA and other state agencies should follow suit, and demand penalties significant enough to deter companies from manipulating this loophole.

Encourage refineries to respect their nearest neighbors:

1. Most refiners are located in or near significant population centers, with residential streets within walking distance of their plants. These neighborhoods live with the hazards of the refining process, as breezes blow contaminants like benzene, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide and other dangerous substances into living rooms and schoolyards. Instead of prioritizing work that directly involves those most affected by pollution, facilities engage in "community advisory group" processes designed to minimize the input and needs of those neighbors. There is a need for direct and separate dialogue with groups representing the refinery’s nearest neighbors to resolve their issues first.
2. Monitoring in neighborhoods located near refineries is poor, and residents lack access to the most fundamental information about what is in the air they breathe, and how it may affect their health. There is little comprehensive monitoring of toxins released by refineries that cross the fenceline to nearby neighborhood. Yet people living near refineries are often given the impression by facilities and agencies that the air is safe to breathe. Without comprehensive monitoring and easy access to the data, refinery neighbors are denied their right to know.
3. Emergency warnings during accidents are unavailable or inadequate, and the response of EPA and state agencies frequently too slow. Comprehensive siren systems and immediate warning networks should be established in refinery communities to allow for immediate safety precautions including evacuation when necessary.
4. Fenceline communities often lack economic resources or access to decent health care. The establishment of health care services appropriate for environmental exposures and industrial chemicals is urgently needed.

We hope you will give this matter the serious attention it deserves. Those who live in the shadow of the refineries that fuel America’s economy may not be as rich and powerful as the oil industry, but they are hardworking people entitled to equal protection under our laws. It is only reasonable to expect that some small share of the refinery industry’s record profits be set aside to make their communities safe and livable. The U.S. refining industry will survive and flourish in the new century only if it respects the law and learns to live with its neighbors.

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