| In response to concerns raised by Houston Mayor Bill White, the Environmental Protection Agency has pledged to review the system it uses to measure "the amount of toxic chemicals that refineries and petrochemical plants release." In his letter sent in July 2008, White wrote that "the emissions factors currently used by the EPA significantly undercount emissions from petroleum refineries and chemical manufacturing plants." In the 27 page letter, which can read here (pdf), White went on to say that the actual emissions "can be 100 times greater than reported emissions." Environmental leaders seemed to agree that this change would prove to be significant. From USA Today: "This would apply to every refinery in the country," said Elena Craft, a toxicologist with the Environmental Defense Fund, a non-profit advocacy group. "If the refining industry is underreporting the emissions, then we're underestimating the health risks. These are pollutants that cause cancer — that end people's lives."
"This is exactly the result we hoped for. Everyone, including industry, knows that the current protocols are incomplete and inaccurate," White said in a statement. You can learn more about this story from the New York Times and USA Today. |
