Refinery Reforms National Campaign ACTION 2004 to Clean up Refinery Pollution and Injustice

With gasoline prices soaring above $2 a gallon with no end in sight, America's oil refineries are experiencing record profits, and some are announcing ambitions plans to expand. Yet this economic windfall will mean little to communities that live next to these plants unless something can be done about the intolerable levels of air pollution that refinery neighbors continue to experience.

With some exceptions, too many refineries are plagued by frequent accidents, upsets and smoking flares that blow contaminants and other toxic chemicals through our homes and schoolyards. We still lack reliable public information about levels of pollution from both normal and abnormal operations. And too many refineries ignore our environmental laws and the pollution controls and public scrutiny that are required. We are asking that US EPA take the following actions:

• Enforce the Law: While some refiners have settled violations, others including Citgo, Exxon-Mobil, and Sunoco continue to ignore our environmental laws, and the Bush Administration has yet to take these companies to court. Why should big corporate polluters be above the law?

• Stop "Accidental" Pollution: Refiners should be held responsible for pollution from repeated accidents, startups and shutdowns, and required to design and operate their plants more safely.

• Tell the Truth About Air Pollution: We have the right to know how much and what kind of air pollution refiners release to our neighborhoods, and how it affects our health. Air emissions from refineries are underreported, or not reported at all, and too difficult for the public to understand.

• Stop Rubber-Stamping Permits: Refiners should not receive new permits if they are violating environmental laws, and communities should be given a meaningful chance to review permit applications. EPA should stop conspiring with industry lobbyists to wipe out New Source Review and requirements that make refiners update pollution controls when they expand or modify plants.

• Require Refiners to Become Good Neighbors: Refiners ought to help support the cost of monitoring for air contaminants in our neighborhoods, maintaining emergency warning systems that work, and providing health care to the victims of air pollution.

We recognize the important contribution that refiners make to our economy and to America's energy security. We ask only that the economic growth of U.S. refining not come at the expense of our health, but be built instead on safer operations, obedience to the law, and respect for neighboring communities.