Environmental Report Raises Questions about the Accuracy of Oil Industry Pollution Reporting

By Jennifer Griffith

Published on February 09, 2007

These same refineries only account for 15% of the nation’s total oil refining production.

Benzene, ethylbenzene, butadiene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, naphthalene, formaldehyde, and heavy metals are the toxins emitted by U.S. oil refineries.

In its report, the EIP uses data from the U.S. Environmental Agency (EPA) database that includes catalogued information on carcinogenic emissions reported annually by oil refineries.

The report states that inconsistencies in the data it analyzed may implicate inaccurate and incomplete reporting by the oil industry to about carcinogenic emissions.

According to the report, between 1999 and 2004, overall emissions declined while there were huge increases at some refineries and major inconsistencies in reporting at others.

The top oil refinery sources of carcinogenic air emissions for 2004, according to the EIP report, include BP in Texas City, Texas; Exxon Mobil in Baytown, Texas; Flint Hills in Corpus Christi, Texas; La Gloria in Tyler, Texas; Lyondell-Citgo in Houston, Texas; Exxon Mobil in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Valero in Corpus Christi; Texas, Sunoco in Philadelphia, PA; and Chalmette in Chalmette, Louisiana.

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