EPA Acts to Sharply Cut Emissions of Benzene : Plan Would Reduce Industrial Fumes by 90%; Change in Composition of Gasoline to Be Ordered
The federal government moved Thursday to sharply restrict industrial emissions of benzene, a cancer-causing chemical widely used in manufacturing and found in automobile exhaust fumes.
The Environmental Protection Agency, in announcing the restrictions--some of which are proposals and some that take effect immediately--said that exposure to benzene “represents an important long-term health concern,” particularly for individuals who live near major industrial sources of the pollutant.
The regulations are directed at a diverse group of manufacturers as well as the nation’s gasoline marketing network, including 390,000 service stations across the country. Affected industries include steel, petroleum, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and tire manufacturing. The regulations would also affect railroad tank cars and benzene storage tanks.
The agency predicted that the controls would reduce industrial emissions of benzene by 90%.
Petroleum Derivative
Benzene, a derivative of petroleum, is a major industrial chemical associated with adult leukemia. It is used in the manufacture of plastics, insecticides and polyurethane foam. Benzene emissions are also found in automobile exhaust fumes, automobile refueling operations, cigarette smoke and many consumer products.
EPA officials acknowledged at a press conference, however, that industrial emissions of benzene account for only about 20% of total airborne benzene, with the remainder coming from vehicle exhaust and fuel evaporation. They said that they intend to attack the automobile problem through additional regulations that would require changes in the composition of gasoline.
The agency said that about half of the American population is exposed to benzene emissions from industrial sources and that “virtually all of the population is exposed to benzene as a constituent of gasoline.”
For most Americans, however, the risk of cancer from benzene exposure is about one in a million, the agency said, noting that the proposed regulations are designed to protect an estimated 100 million people who live close to industrial sites.
The new rules are intended to ensure that those facing the biggest exposure--an estimated 300,000 people--have no more than one chance in 10,000 of getting cancer.
Industry spokesmen were generally positive about the rules.
“EPA has taken additional steps to protect public health, but has done so in a manner that recognizes the efforts already taken by the petroleum industry to reduce its emissions,” the American Petroleum Institute said in a statement.
Some Proposals Criticized
But the institute criticized the proposals to limit emissions in the gasoline marketing network. Those provisions would require the addition of seals and other systems to reduce the estimated 5,300 tons of benzene released through the filling of underground gasoline storage tanks at service stations.
“These particular controls would require significant expenditures of approximately $1 billion but would achieve virtually no public health benefits,” the institute said.
The EPA said that the proposed restrictions would reduce the projected incidence of leukemia from approximately four additional cases per year in the exposed population to one case every three years.
One set of final regulations that took effect Thursday requires a 97% reduction in emissions from coke byproduct recovery plants and “significant” reductions in emissions from benzene storage plants.
The agency proposed also a second set of regulations to require a 98% cut in emissions from railroad tank cars, trucks, boats and other transfer operations, a 95% reduction from process vents in pharmaceutical manufacturing, a 75% reduction from rubber tire manufacturing and additional reductions from benzene waste operations, gasoline terminals, plants and service stations. The proposed regulations would take effect after a period of public comment.
For the petroleum industry, the EPA proposed that benzene storage facilities larger than 10,000 gallons meet specific requirements for tank roof seals, including periodic inspections and repair of broken seals. The agency predicted that benzene emissions from such tanks will be reduced from a current level of 680 to 1,420 tons a year to an estimated 560 tons a year.
In addition, the agency proposed controls on waste operations at chemical plants, petroleum refineries and other facilities that would require covers or enclosures, treatment processes and waste incineration to reduce emissions at these facilities to 275 tons a year, a 95% reduction.
Most consumers will not be affected by EPA’s regulations at the gas pump, because emissions released when automobiles are refueled already are subject in many cities to controls that exceed federal ozone smog standards.
20,000-Ton Reduction
The EPA said that the final rules that were adopted Thursday will result in a reduction of 20,000 tons of benzene emissions from current levels within two years. The pending proposals would eliminate an additional 14,300 tons when they take effect.
The agency said that its benzene rules represent its first attempt to satisfy a landmark 1987 federal court ruling requiring the EPA to go through an elaborate health risk assessment process in deciding how far industries must go to reduce toxic air pollution.
The court ordered the EPA to determine what constitutes an “acceptable” level of risk for the public from dangerous air emissions, then impose pollution-control requirements that provide an “ample margin of safety.”
The ruling resulted from a lawsuit filed by environmental groups that attacked the agency for taking industry costs into consideration, in addition to health factors, in determining its standards for air pollution.
EPA officials have said that the court-ordered process takes too long. It cited the ruling as a major reason why the agency has regulated only eight out of the hundreds of toxic air pollutants.
Congress is expected to override the process set up by the courts when it revises the Clean Air Act. The Bush Administration’s clean air bill would require industry to first install the best available pollution control technology and then have the EPA evaluate remaining health dangers to decide whether further regulation is necessary.
In California, no ambient air standard has been set for benzene. But benzene emissions are regulated indirectly because they fall into a general category of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds, which are a prime ingredient of photochemical smog.
Staff writer Larry Stammer in Los Angeles contributed to this story.
