Benzene is like asbestos, there is no safe exposure level, and chronic airborne benzene exposure is associated with leukaemia and other health affects.
According to the World Health Organization: "Benzene is carcinogenic to humans, and no safe level of exposure can be recommended. For general guidance, the concentrations of airborne benzene associated with an excess lifetime risk of leukaemia of 10−4 , 10−5 and 10−6 are 17, 1.7 and 0.17 μg/m3 , respectively."
https://www.who.int/ipcs/features/benzene.pdf
The EPA now requires benzene fenceline monitoring in the oil refinery sector, but not around other benzene emitting plants. When the 2 week adjusted average is above 9 ug/m3, the oil refinery must file an additional report and conduct root cause analysis and take action to reduce the benzene level. However, this is looking more like another fox watching the hen house project.
Residents and grassroots stakeholders like Louisiana Bucket Brigade and Environmental Integrity Project wanted public access to the real time data, and not just the two week "adjusted" averages.
According to this EIP article,"Anne Rolfes, Director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an environmental advocacy group, complained that the people of Chalmette, Louisiana, are being exposed to benzene from the Chalmette Refining plant at dangerous levels. The benzene concentration detected along the refinery fenceline in 2019 was 37 percent higher than EPA action levels.
“It should not require a federal intervention for Chalmette Refining to take action on a cancer causing chemical like benzene,” Rolfes said. “Chalmette Refining’s reckless release of benzene threatens the people who live in the neighborhood right across the street, and a school that is less than a mile away.”
EPA’s benzene regulations have their origin in a 2012 lawsuit that the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) and allies filed on behalf of seven community and environmental groups, including Air Alliance Houston and the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. The lawsuit complained that EPA missed its deadline to review and update toxic air standards for oil refineries by more than a decade.
For years, these local groups had been fighting for stronger protection from refinery pollution, including problems associated with flaring and malfunctions. In response, EPA imposed new regulations for oil refineries designed to reduce the amount of hazardous pollution these companies spew into the air. The new rules, first implemented in 2018, require refineries to set up monitors around the perimeter of their plants to measure concentrations of benzene leaving the property.
As part of the monitoring requirement, refineries must collect air samples at the plant fenceline every two weeks. Refineries then determine the amount of benzene actually coming from the facility by correcting for background or any nearby or offsite sources. If the highest measurement of benzene coming from the facility exceeds an average of 9 micrograms per cubic meter of air over a one-year period, the EPA regulations require the facility to conduct an analysis to determine the root cause of the problems causing the toxic emissions and to then take action to lower those concentrations.
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