The EIP has released the following report on refinery atmospheric emissions. “The Environmental Integrity Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established in March of 2002 by former EPA enforcement attorneys to advocate for more effective enforcement of environmental laws.” The scariest words in the report are these:
BP Texas City was by far the largest refinery source of carcinogen emissions in 2004, due mostly to its reported release of nearly 2 million pounds of formaldehyde in that year. BP has claimed that the formaldehyde release resulted from a change in its emission calculations, raising questions as to whether other refineries are reporting accurately.
Are refineries reporting accurately? The second place refinery had “only” 173,730 lbs. of carcinogenic atmospheric emissions — that means that the refinery releases one pound of carcinogens for every 1,170 barrels. That sounds low. My high school physics professor taught us to estimate what the answer might be before we used our trusty sliderules. This was so we could get the significant digits right.
I have never been in a refinery. I do not know what one looks like up close, what is smells like, how large it is in any real sense. But since a barrel contains 42 gallons, that means one pound is relased for almost every 49,000 gallons of fuel produced. Remember each gallon weighs about 8 pounds. That’s right. More math. 393,000 pounds of fuel are produced for every pound of carcinogen released into the atmosphere. It doesn’t sound right.
How are the refineries of ExxonMobil, BP, Citgo, and others measuring their emissions? And would they actually misrepresent this kind of data?
Where do you get these numbers? Where is the rest of this story?