National Report Shows "Upset" Air Pollution Endangering Public Health

Press Release
08/18/2004

American Lung Association of San Francisco & San Mateo Counties
2171 Junipero Serra Blvd., Suite 720, Daly City, CA 94014
National Refinery Reform Campaign
222 Richland Ave., San Francisco, CA 94110

Contact:
Denny Larson, National Refinery Reform Campaign
Ph: 415. 845-4705 e-mail: dennylarson@earthlink.net
Adrienne Bloch, Communities for a Better Environment
Ph: 510. 302-0430, x. 203 e-mail: abloch@cbecal.org
Linda Weiner, American Lung Association
Ph: 650. 994-5864, x304 e-mail: lindaw@alasfsm.org

National Report Shows "Upset" Air Pollution Endangering Public Health Bay Area Lacking Adequate Systems for Reporting Excess Emissions

(A streaming audio recording of the news event will be available on the Web as of 5 p.m. EDT/1 p.m. PDT on August 18, 2004 at http://www.environmentalintegrity.org. B-roll footage of upsets at various refineries nationwide will also be available to interested TV producers.)

(San Francisco Bay Area) A national report by the nonprofit and nonpartisan Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) documents that 29 states have loopholes in their laws allowing "accidental" pollution emissions to exceed federal Clean Air Act limits, with many states simply choosing not to take enforcement against industrial facilities for such emissions. These loopholes that effectively encourage "upset" air pollution episodes at industrial plants are not being blocked by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and expose millions of Americans to hazardous emissions including benzene, butadiene and other cancer-causing chemicals.

In addition, the EIP analysis reveals that states fail to accurately track upsets or to include emissions in state inventories, on which pollution control plans are based. The annual upset emissions from a number of facilities in the study were actually greater than the total emissions those facilities reported emitting for the entire year. Though the EPA report is national in scope, it looks in detail at the situations in CA, GA, OH, LA, PA, and TX to illustrate the issue. As an example of egregious emissions, a close look at 37 facilities in Texas and Louisiana found the facilities released 63,411,603 pounds of excess pollution during upsets over just one year.

Files for three Bay Area refineries were reviewed, but it was not possible to determine how much pollution the facilities emitted during upsets because so many reports from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) were missing entirely or lacking emission data. In some cases, the industrial site records showed a "breakdown" report, but did not indicate the total amount of pollution released during the upset. Additionally, BAAQMD did not produce emissions data within numerous reports that were "withheld by legal" , despite the fact that this information is clearly public information under the Clean Air Act which should not be withheld for any length of time. Adrienne Bloch, attorney for Communities for a Better Environment, an environmental health and justice organization that fights to reduce urban industrial pollution said, "Emissions and reporting information on upsets and breakdowns is critical to understanding the full extent of Bay Area pollution. Without access to basic emissions information, it is impossible for the public to know what they are breathing or to know that the Bay Area Air District is taking adequate enforcement action. Moreover, the label "upset:" can serve as a mask for inadequate and sloppy plant or refinery operations, but it is the public who pays. These practices contradict the very purposes of the Clean Air Act."

The report therefore recommends that BAAQMD develop a centralized electronic reporting system for emissions tracking in order that the public can know what pollutants are being emitted, and the District can have accurate information for developing its clean air plans. More details are available in the report itself (www.environmentalintegrity.org).

The off-the-books pollution caused by unreported and unpenalized ‘upsets’ is at least as harmful as ‘routine’ pollution and should not be allowed to evade emissions limits designed to protect public health. Marilyn Bardet of Benicia, who lives within 1 mile of a local refinery and within 5 miles of other refineries and chemical plants reports that, depending on wind direction, "You can smell bad odors and get a nasty taste in your mouth, but I’m just as concerned about all the other toxic chemical emissions that I can’t smell or taste. I’ve been following this issue for a number of years and have researched air monitoring systems, and know that we need real time emissions data-monitoring, with data made independently available to the public in real time, as an early warning system for our community." Henry Clark of Richmond lives near another refinery and says. "The daily emissions that my community is bombarded with are dangerous and deadly, the dioxins, benzene and xylene emissions. Sometimes the upsets or explosions go on for over a week, and there is a high rate of childhood asthma and cancer in this area."

Denny Larson, Coordinator of the National Refinery Reform Campaign notes that studies have shown that a one-day upset can not only literally gas the surrounding neighborhood, but also throw the entire air district out of attainment for federal and state standards. He continues that "This dramatic report reveals the truth hidden from the public and not reported to the Toxics Release Inventory --that constant upsets from refineries and other facilities are a major secret threatening the health safety of industrial neighbors. It’s time to require immediate reporting of upsets to the web and take tough enforcement action to stop this illegal dumping."

Air pollution limits are designed to keep the air safe to breathe, but loopholes in the law render some of the limits virtually meaningless, particularly in predominately low-income communities and communities of color surrounding many refinery and chemical complexes. "Incidents of lung cancer, asthma and respiratory disease are higher in these communities, and many studies directly connect air pollution with lung health. We are concerned that air pollution emissions may not be tracked efficiently or enforced vigorously. This can only mean a danger to public health," said Linda Weiner, of the American Lung Association of San Francisco & San Mateo Counties.

The EIP report recommendations for action include: eliminating EPA and state/district loopholes; improving state/district-level monitoring and reporting requirements; increasing federal and state enforcement; and conducting more studies of health effects. The bottom line is that upset emissions are largely avoidable. A handful of plants appear to have minimized upset emissions, thereby proving that pollution from upsets is not an inevitable product of manufacturing. Studies already show that better management practices would significantly reduce upset emissions.

ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY PROJECT:
Founded by Eric Shaeffer, the Environmental Integrity Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established in March 2002 to advocate for more effective enforcement of environmental laws. Schaeffer directed the US EPA’s Office of Regulatory Enforcement until 2002, when he resigned after publicly expressing his frustration with efforts of the Bush Administration to weaken enforcement of the Clean Air Act and other laws.