News Articles
Small western PA refinery topped list for most injuries among workers, with 119 over five years, federal data show
After a series of fires and explosions at U.S. oil refineries in the first half of 2023, Oil & Gas Watch News examined records of injuries and deaths at refineries nationwide. From August 2, 2017, to March 3, 2023, 153 refineries nationwide reported a total of 1,539 injuries and seven deaths. A small refinery in western Pennsylvania, the United Refining Company in Warren, had by far the worst safety record, with 119 injuries and no deaths over this period, according to federal records. That was 10 times the average for a refinery.
New EPA report: Plastics chemical found in drinking water poses elevated cancer risk
1,4-Dioxane is a colorless liquid with a faint sweet odor used as an industrial solvent, ingredient, and byproduct in the production of plastics and consumer products since the 1950s. The chemical is also found in hydraulic fracturing fluid and at plastic plants that produce polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, a common plastic used to make bottles, food packaging, and clothing. The EPA is accepting public comments on its findings on 1,4-Dioxane until Sept. 8, 2023.
Factory near Houston would convert garbage into jet fuel. “Green” energy or trash talk?
In Baytown, east of Houston, Fulcrum Bioenergy plans to build facility that converts landfill trash, including single-use plastic, into jet fuel. The company recently opened a similar plant near Reno, Nevada. Proponents see the idea of using garbage to make jet fuel as an environmental win-win and effective way to decarbonize the aviation industry. However, some environmentalists doubt whether the technology is viable and point to the hundreds of tons of air pollution per year the plant would generate.
Temperatures rise over whether EPA should allow Louisiana to permit carbon waste burial projects
This summer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to rule on a petition by Louisiana for state authority to issue permits for carbon dioxide waste disposal wells that would allow petrochemical companies to capture the climate-warming pollutant from their smokestacks and bury it underground. Encouraged by billions of dollars in public subsidies offered by the Biden Administration, oil and gas companies and other industries are proposing at least 27 carbon capture and sequestration projects in Louisiana, including beneath the Gulf of Mexico.
The U.S. LNG export boom is spreading to Mexico, creating new environmental threats
Developers are planning six LNG terminals capable of liquefying and exporting natural gas from Mexico, including three planned for highly sensitive areas of the Gulf of California in the country’s northwest. The LNG terminals would rely on U.S. natural gas, mostly from West Texas, and would export most of their gas to Asian countries. The Mexican terminals could compete for customers with 30 new or expanding U.S. LNG terminals either under construction or proposed but not yet built, mostly in the Gulf of Mexico.
EPA report: Houston plastics plant at risk of explosion
In November 2019, a TPC Group plastics chemical plant in Port Neches, Texas, exploded and burned for more than a month, causing evacuations of nearby residents and forcing schools to close. A TPC plastics plant in Houston has some of the same potential problems as caused the Port Neches disaster: dead-end sections of pipe called "dead legs," according to an EPA inspection. A similar explosion at the Houston facility could be even more catastrophic, because 8,000 people live within a mile.
Outdated safety rules at LNG terminals include measure meant to prevent accidents
The amount of natural gas sent abroad from the U.S. more than quadrupled since 2015. However, experts say that safety regulations for liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals are lagging. Eight of the nine LNG safety standards overseen by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration are outdated, including one meant to protect against explosions from the refrigerant gases uses to liquify the methane gas.
Federally-funded carbon waste disposal projects ignite opposition
More than 100 carbon capture and storage projects are proposed across the U.S., including 27 in Louisiana, because of billion of dollars in new federal tax credits. Many of these pollution burial projects are drawing opposition from local residents and scientists. One is in the fragile wetlands of southern Louisiana, where a Dallas-based company called Cox Oil received federal funding to help build a 110-mile carbon dioxide pipeline from petrochemical plants in Geismar, Louisiana, into the Gulf of Mexico near Grand Isle.
Texas fishermen worry revived dredging project for bigger oil tankers will harm their catch
Federal and local officials are planning a dredging project along the Texas Gulf Coast that would make more room for larger oil tankers headed for an export terminal in Matagorda Bay. Fishermen and environmental advocates worry the dredging will disturb a decades-old Superfund site contaminated with mercury and destroy hundreds of acres of habitat for shrimp, oysters, and other seafood species. Since the U.S. lifted a ban on exporting crude oil in 2015, companies have built or proposed at least 11 new or expanded oil terminals along the Gulf Coast.
Biden Administration may spend billions funding 'clean' hydrogen made with fossil fuels
Some hydrogen energy advocates envision a future where factories will split water molecules into clean hydrogen fuel. But half of the proposed hydrogen production sites currently under consideration for $8 billion in federal funding could use fossil fuels to make their hydrogen fuel, raising doubts about how “clean” the fuel would really be.
Biden/McCarthy compromise would approve Mountain Valley Pipeline and limit national environmental reviews
To avoid the possibility of the U.S. defaulting on its debts, President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Sunday endorsed compromise legislation that requires the federal government to issue all permits needed to “expedite” completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The 303-mile natural gas pipeline through West Virginia and Virginia has been stalled by court challenges but is championed by Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) The bill would also limit environmental reviews of major projects like pipelines, dams, and electric transmission lines across the U.S.
Three Texas oil & gas industry sites that caught fire had long violation records
The three large refinery and petrochemical facilities along the Texas Gulf Coast that caught fire this month had long track records of environmental compliance problems, including a combined 5,469 violations over a decade but few penalties, according to state records. On May 5, a Shell chemical plant near Houston caught fire and burned for days. Ten days later, flames erupted at a Marathon oil refinery south of Houston, burning to death a plant worker. And on May 17, a blaze broke out at a Valero refinery in Corpus Christi. Repeat violations often indicate a pattern of companies not investing in modern equipment and safety measures.
Biden’s bioplastics move could be a shell game, swapping one polluting plastic for another
President Biden recently issued an executive order with the goal of replacing 90 percent of petroleum-based plastics manufacturing with plastic produced using ingredients like corn or wood. These "bioplastics" do not cause the same environmental harm as fossil fuel plastics, but they do not break down quickly and can persist in the environment. Biden’s order also endorses chemical plastic recycling, which generates huge quantities of toxic waste and hazardous air pollutants.
Shell chemical plant that burned near Houston had a record of nearly 2,000 violations
Shell Deer Park Chemical, which caught fire over the weekend, has a long track record of environmental violations, including 37 enforcement orders and $1.6 million in penalties. One of these violations was for the release of more than 30,000 pounds of a dangerous carcinogen (1,3-butadiene) from vents and a relief valve over nearly 24 hours in January 2013.
Ammonia fuel sets sail into an ocean of petroleum-based energy
As the demand for low-carbon energy sources grows, "clean" ammonia – referred to by advocates as either green or blue ammonia, depending on how it is produced – is expected to dramatically increase in production. Developers in the U.S. are proposing 15 new ammonia plants, mostly in Texas and Louisiana, to produce ammonia for fuel. Ammonia could be used as a fuel for ships, or to help produce clean-burning hydrogen for industry. But about two thirds of these "clean" ammonia projects are dependent on untested carbon capture technology.
