EPA is prodding oil refineries to do a better job of limiting airborne levels of a carcinogenic pollutant around their plants.
In anenforcement alert posted last week, the agency flagged “compliance concerns” related to fence-line monitoring for benzene, a compound tied to leukemia and other blood disorders. Those regulations, issued in 2015, require refineries to track benzene concentrations around their operations and take “corrective action” if the level exceeds 9 micrograms per cubic meter of air.
The alert stops short of spelling out any specific steps that might be in the works but cites one refinery with fence-line benzene levels of more than 900 micrograms per cubic meter of air over repeated 14-day sampling periods, leading to an enforcement case that was resolved this year.
While the plant is not named, it appears to be HF Sinclair’s Navajo refinery in Artesia, New Mexico, said Keene Kelderman of the Environmental Integrity Project in an email. In a settlement made final in May, the company agreed to pay $35 million in fines and spend an estimated $137 million on plant upgrades.
