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Dante Mack
/
July 25, 2024
Cancer-causing benzene emissions are rising at the Dow Chemical Orange plant in East Texas. Why?
Dow Chemical's facility in Orange County, Texas, has the highest levels of carcinogenic benzene air pollution measured at its perimeter among U.S. petrochemical facilities reporting to the EPA, according to the most recent available data. Benzene is a colorless, flammable gas with a sweet odor that is among the most potent cancer-causing byproducts of oil and gas operations. The EPA requires monitoring for benzene along the fencelines of all U.S. oil refineries and a smaller subset of chemical plants. While concentrations at many refineries have gone down, benzene levels at the Dow Orange plant remain stubbornly high and even reached concentrations more than three times higher than short-term safety thresholds and 33 times higher than a standard for chronic exposure.
Keene Kelderman
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May 22, 2024
New air pollution monitoring rules for refineries are driving down benzene levels at plant fencelines
Recent EPA data show a marked improvement in levels of benzene, a potent carcinogen, measured at the fencelines of U.S. oil refineries, suggesting that less of the dangerous pollutant is escaping into neighboring communities. By the end of 2023, only six out of 109 U.S. refineries exceeded the EPA's action level for benzene, compared to 12 at the end of 2020. New rules imposed by EPA in 2015 that require refineries to monitor these emissions and take action against high levels of the pollutant appear to be working.
Brendan Gibbons
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May 15, 2024
Despite incentives for carbon capture, U.S. is still mining CO₂ to produce more oil
Even as the Biden Administration is providing billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to encourage industry to capture carbon dioxide and bury it underground to help protect the climate, some companies are working in the opposite direction. In places like southwestern Colorado and Jackson, Mississippi, companies are pulling huge volumes of virgin CO₂ out of the ground to use it to extract more oil, which is then burned to contribute more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Ari Phillips
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May 2, 2024
Pipeline supplying new PA plastics plant charged with criminal cover up of spills
Pennsylvania's Attorney General charged Shell Pipeline with 13 criminal charges for violating Pennsylvania’s Clean Streams Law during construction of the 45-mile Falcon Pipeline in western Pennsylvania. The pipeline transports natural gas liquid in the form of ethane from drilling sites in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania to the Shell Polymers Monaca petrochemical plant, where it is processed into plastic. An investigation revealed that Shell allegedly failed to notify state officials about multiple problems, including when drilling mud or fluid was lost underground and came to the surface where it could contaminate waterbodies.
Brendan Gibbons
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April 25, 2024
In Illinois, a massive taxpayer-funded carbon capture project fails to capture about 90 percent of plant’s emissions
The project, run by ethanol producer Archer Daniels Midland and partners, received $281 million in taxpayer dollars via Department of Energy grants. It has stored more than 2.8 million metric tons of CO2 since 2011. However, EPA records show that represents a capture rate of only about 10-12 percent of the plant’s emissions each year at most, allowing the rest of the carbon dioxide to escape into the atmosphere. This small percentage raises questions about whether industrial-scale carbon capture technology can be a meaningful solution to global warming.
Tom Pelton
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April 18, 2024
With 34 petrochemical ‘plastics recycling’ plants proposed across U.S., a small PA town fights back -- and wins
Plans to build what would have been the largest petrochemical plant in the U.S. dedicated to breaking down plastic waste into chemicals were cancelled today. The decision by the Encina company came after a town council in Pennsylvania voted unanimously to “strenuously and unequivocally” oppose the company's proposed plant on the banks of the Susquehanna River. The victory by the local community in Northumberland Borough is the latest example of rising opposition to a wave of 34 petrochemical plants proposed across the U.S. that wrap themselves in misleading language about “recycling” plastics.
Ari Phillips
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April 11, 2024
Opposition mounts to aging oil & gas pipeline threatening Great Lakes drinking water
The Enbridge Line 5 Pipeline, which carries oil beneath Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, is notorious for a 2010 accident that was one of the worst inland oil spills in U.S. history. More than 20,000 barrels of heavy crude oil spilled into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Michigan. This messy history weighs heavily on the future of the old pipeline, which is facing lawsuits from the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians and the Michigan Attorney General's office.
Brendan Gibbons
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April 4, 2024
A new EPA rule is meant to prevent chemical disasters, but safety advocates say loopholes remain
The U.S. experiences a chemical disaster on average once every two days, including at least 45 so far in 2024, according to the nonprofit Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters. However, a new safety rule the Biden administration recently released is meant to avoid such catastrophes. Advocates also say EPA should have done more, such as required air monitoring at the fence lines of major facilities and adding ammonium nitrate, an explosive material used in fertilizer, to the hazardous chemical list.
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Oil & Gas Updates
Updates for the week of July 22, 2024
Reports
June 25, 2024
A second Trump term could slow the shift from fossil fuels as climate threat grows
June 25, 2024
A big boost for a climate solution: electricity made from the heat of the Earth
June 25, 2024
Company's bid to build carbon dioxide pipeline wins Iowa approval
March 14, 2024
Feeding the Plastics Industrial Complex
October 25, 2023
Carbon capture and storage in Texas
April 17, 2023
The Fertilizer Boom: America's Rapidly Growing Nitrogen and Fertilizer Industry and its Impact on the Environment and Public Safety
March 23, 2023
The Polluter's Playbook: How Loopholes and Lax Enforcement Harm Air Quality in Texas
January 27, 2023
Oil's Unchecked Outfalls
June 9, 2022
Playing with Fire: The Climate Impact of the Rapid Growth of LNG
May 12, 2022
Benzene Pollution at Oil Refinery Fencelines
April 22, 2022
The Advocate’s Guide to Effective Participation in Environmental Permit Proceedings
Recent Media
June 25, 2024
A second Trump term could slow the shift from fossil fuels as climate threat grows
June 25, 2024
A big boost for a climate solution: electricity made from the heat of the Earth
June 25, 2024
Company's bid to build carbon dioxide pipeline wins Iowa approval
March 14, 2024
Feeding the Plastics Industrial Complex
October 25, 2023
Carbon capture and storage in Texas
April 17, 2023
The Fertilizer Boom: America's Rapidly Growing Nitrogen and Fertilizer Industry and its Impact on the Environment and Public Safety
March 23, 2023
The Polluter's Playbook: How Loopholes and Lax Enforcement Harm Air Quality in Texas
January 27, 2023
Oil's Unchecked Outfalls
June 9, 2022
Playing with Fire: The Climate Impact of the Rapid Growth of LNG
May 12, 2022
Benzene Pollution at Oil Refinery Fencelines
April 22, 2022
The Advocate’s Guide to Effective Participation in Environmental Permit Proceedings
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Oil & Gas Watch Reporter
Ari Phillips
Senior Writer and Editor
Tom Pelton
Director of Communications
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Oil & Gas Research Manager
Paul MacGillis-Falcon
Research Assistant
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