EPA buckles to Wyden pressure; caps benzene levels in our air.
Today, Ron Wyden announced that the EPA has buckled to his demands that benzene levels in the Pacific Northwest be brought under control.
We'll update later with links to the news coverage, but here's a bit from his release:
After months of pressuring the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to adopt a standard for benzene that didn’t “turn the Northwest into an environmental sacrifice zone,” U.S. Senator Ron Wyden announced today that the EPA is instituting a nationwide cap on the amount of benzene in gasoline that will reduce benzene levels in the Northwest threefold. The EPA had previously proposed a rule that could have left levels in the Northwest higher than other parts of the country.“Today the EPA acknowledged that folks in the Northwest have the same right to breathe clean air as folks in other parts of the country,” Wyden said. “I’m very pleased the EPA decided not to turn the Northwest into an environmental sacrifice zone, but instead put in place a sensible nationwide standard that sets a maximum amount of benzene that can be in gasoline.”
What's this all about? In basic terms, here's the deal:
- Oregon and Washington get most of their oil from Alaska. Oil from Alaska has high levels of benzene. Benzene, burned in cars, escapes into our atmosphere.
- According to some recent studies, some Oregonians living near freeways are currently breathing as much as 40 times the legal limit of benzene. The EPA hasn't previously cared, because they only regulate benzene levels if a region has otherwise dirty air - and our air is below those thresholds. There is not now a legal maximum for benzene levels in gasoline.
- Benzene causes leukemia.
- The EPA had previously announced a "cap and trade" plan to regulate benzene. That would have meant that dirty refineries in the Northwest could trade credits with cleaner refineries in the East Coast - with no change to Northwest benzene levels.
- Last November, Senator Wyden put a hold on the confirmation of the EPA's General Counsel nominee. Suddenly, the EPA started paying attention.
- Along with Senators Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray, and Gordon Smith, Senator Wyden suggested that the EPA include a national cap on benzene levels.
- Buckling to the pressure, the EPA today announced a national cap on benzene. The previously-proposed cap-and-trade system will be in effect in January 2011, and the new national maximum will arrive 18 months later.
- The estimated cost of compliance, according to the EPA, is less than one cent per gallon of gasoline.
We'll update here with links to news coverage when it happens.
Discuss.
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Feb 9, '07
So this won't even start until 2013? Wow, sounds like progress to me.
3:52 p.m.
Feb 9, '07
It's actually July 1, 2012.
But yeah, that's troublesome. What I don't know or understand just yet is how long it takes these refineries to upgrade their systems.
I do know that the initial cap-and-trade plan was designed by the EPA to launch on January 1, 2011. The national cap is only 18 months later - which is apparently a win. Some advocates were concerned that they would use it as an excuse to push things out for many more years.
Feb 9, '07
FWIW, I called Wyden and Smith's Oregon offices and told their staff that 5 years away is not good enough, we need this implemented sooner (not knowing anything about refineries but I'm sure, as always, it's just a question of profits versus people, and at less than a penny per gallon, I'd be willing to pay 10cents more per gallon or more if it would happen a helluva lot sooner).
10:02 a.m.
Feb 10, '07
Benzene causes leukemia.
any citation for this? my dad & brother have a rare form of leukemia, so i've tried to remain current on medical advances. my understanding is there is no none cause for leukemia -- and there are a multitude of leukemias. if someone has seen research i've missed, i'd really like to know.
Feb 10, '07
For anyone that thinks this is a real victory, you don't understand how the oil industry works.
Take sulfur for example. The oil industry has reduced the amount of sulfur in auto gas. Is there a big pile of sulfur around somewhere? No. Why not? Just because it isn't burned here doesn't mean it isn't burned somewhere else.
All the ships in the ocean burn high sulfur fuels - because the refineries shift all the pollutants from auto fuels to other fuels.
So what will happen to all this benzene? Same thing. It will just get shifted to a jurisdiction that allows it. So, instead of it being found in the air of downtown Portland, it will go into the air of the Oregon coast - blown in from the ships, China, etc.
Our pollution controls that require refineries to reduce elements found in crude oil don't work, they just shift where on the planet they are burned.
Feb 10, '07
Great. I won't be here in 2011.
In the meantime I live right next to the Freemont bridge. Fantastic.
Let's see, what fights leukemia...
Feb 11, '07
Drew-- How about a class action lawsuit?
I know this would make the lawyers a bunch of money but it might force the companies to make the reductions sooner.
11:43 a.m.
Feb 11, '07
T.A. As always, Google to the rescue: benzene and leukemia
11:45 a.m.
Feb 11, '07
p.s. For those who don't want to wade through the search results, here's a paragraph from the CDC's FAQ page:
11:48 a.m.
Feb 11, '07
So what will happen to all this benzene? Same thing. It will just get shifted to a jurisdiction that allows it. So, instead of it being found in the air of downtown Portland, it will go into the air of the Oregon coast - blown in from the ships, China, etc.
Steve... I think you're making Ron Wyden's point. Prior to his muscling the EPA around, that jurisdiction - the sacrifice zone - would have been Oregon and Washington.
Now, the entire country will be lower in benzene levels. Does it mean that this benzene won't get burned somewhere else? I don't know.
What we do know is this: The benzene levels are EXTREMELY high right next to freeways. It drops off pretty fast as you move a few hundred yards away.
I'm not sure it's a bad thing if ocean-going vessels are the ones that start burning high-benzene fuels. (Well, OK, it's not a good thing either - but you get what I mean.)
Feb 11, '07
Kari wrote, "I'm not sure it's a bad thing if ocean-going vessels are the ones that start burning high-benzene fuels. (Well, OK, it's not a good thing either - but you get what I mean.)"
Yeah, I know what you mean. Not in my backyard.
Feb 11, '07
A little And another piece of helpful and successful work for the folks at OnwardOregon.org. I took this online action, and it's like the 4th one I've done that's had a good result. I take the MoveOn ones too, but I feel more helpful when I do these more local ones. And good on the O-O folks. It doesn't deal with that much of the federal stuff I care about, but it's good still.
11:29 p.m.
Feb 11, '07
Yeah, I know what you mean. Not in my backyard.
Well, at least not in my lungs.
11:35 p.m.
Feb 11, '07
p.s. Steve -- Despite my snark, I am concerned about your claim. Can you provide any evidence that when the refineries that crack Alaska crude clean up their act, they're just going to ship the bad benzene gasoline somewhere else? Or is that just idle speculation based on unrelated bad acts in the past?
I don't know a damn thing about the science of cracking and refining crude oil - but I'm thinking it's a liquid solution, and when they reduce the amount of benzene molecules in it, they'll be pulling out pure benzene. Which will get used, stored, or burned somewhere - but not as gasoline.
Keep in mind that it's benzene in our air that's the problem, not whatever molecule results when you burn the benzene in your car.
I'm speculating here that if they end up burning benzene somewhere else, it's gotta be done more effeciently than my car can do it -- and with better waste treatment.
In any case, before we go suggesting that Wyden's plan just means that Oregonians are saving themselves at the expense of nice people in the developing world - I'd like to see some scientific evidence or reasoning for that.
(I should probably disclose here that I manage Senator Wyden's unofficial website, but I speak only for myself. I am definitely not a policy guy, and don't know a damn thing about the science here.)
Feb 12, '07
Oceangoing ships don't burn gasoline, they burn ship fuel, which is really thick, low-grade oily fuel.
Considering the methods used to refine fuels, in which chemicals are literally changed from one form to another, and the fact that noone here has a clue how refineries work, how can you make any assertion?
For all we know, they break down the benzene molecule into something else - after all, it's just made of Carbon and Hydrogen, which is what all plastics, gasoline, coal, and natural gas are made of.
Feb 12, '07
I read on PortlandTransport.com that California has enacted legislation requiring benzene reductions in gasoline sold in the state. Why can't we do that in Oregon? Why wait for the feds?
Feb 14, '07
It isn't just a threat to human health, it is toxic to life in general. The threat isn't just leukemia, either. It has other effects. It is neuro-toxic, for instance, and repeated/extended exposure is believed to cause permanent harm. See MSDS data here: "http://ptcl.chem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/BE/benzene.html"
Also, it's another release of an organic solvent. Bad for the planet, period. I'm all for an Oregon regulation. Sooner the better, IMO.
I always wondered why the air near traffic here was so much nastier than back East.
Feb 15, '07
I emailed my Oregon state rep and senator to see if they would look into state action. Are there other steps we could take?
Feb 15, '07
What I've heard about benzene in Oregon is that the refineries have to take it out of the gas for other states and they dump it into the gas for the Pac NW. WHy? Becasue we have such clean air we can aford it. I've also heard that OHSU did a study to find out why Oregon has such a high rate of breast cancer. They found it was the benzene. Other than this article, I have not found much information on this.
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