Healthy Communities News

PHILADELPHIA –Oil refineries needlessly put 4.4 million people in the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware at risk of injury or death in the event of an accident or deliberate attack, according to a new report released today by the PennEnvironment. The report, Needless Risk: Oil Refineries and Hazard Reduction, documents the major threat posed by refineries using hydrofluoric acid to surrounding communities, as well as available technologies that could reduce or eliminate the threat.

“Industrial facilities like oil refineries are sitting ducks waiting for an adversary to make full use of their disastrous potential,” said David Masur, PennEnvironment Director. “Safer technologies exist but industry has failed to take the public out of harm’s way.”

PennEnvironment focused on the danger of oil refineries that use and store large amounts of hydrofluoric acid onsite. If accidentally released, hydrofluoric acid forms an aerosol cloud over surrounding communities. An acid cloud can cause skin and deep tissue burns, serious bone damage, and death by burns to the skin, tissue or lungs. Symptoms from exposure continue for days if injuries are not treated and may not even appear for up to 24 hours after exposure.

Sunoco’s Philadelphia Refinery endangers 4.4 million people in the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware—threatening more people than any other facility in the nation.

Identified in the report are a number of companies that own refineries that use hydrofluoric acid, while also operating other refineries that use safer technologies. ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Valero Energy Corporation, and Marathon Ashland, for example, own refineries that use hydrofluoric acid as well as refineries that use other technologies.

The report also named the parent companies that own facilities that endanger the most Americans include Sunoco, Inc., Valero Energy Corporation, Marathon Ashland Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, CITGO, ExxonMobil, Murphy Oil Corporation, and Premcor Inc.

“The fact that some companies use dangerous hydrofluoric acid at some refineries but safer alternatives at others shows that they are well aware of safer alternatives but choose not to implement them,” said Masur.

With 4.4 million people living within the vulnerability zone of a refinery using hydrofluoric acid, the tri-state area ranks as the worst in the nation in terms of number of people at risk because of its use. Nationwide, more than 17 million people live within the vulnerability zone of such a facility.

Needless Risk documents cost-effective alternatives to hydrofluoric acid at oil refineries. New facilities can be built using solid acid catalysts, completely eliminating the risk of a toxic cloud, for nearly the same cost as building a new hydrofluoric acid facility. In addition, existing refineries could switch to sulfuric acid, which poses less of an off-site threat, or to modified hydrofluoric acid, which reduces the severity of the consequences of an accidental release. The report authors pointed to the Valero Energy Corporation, near Los Angeles, which is in the process of switching to modified hydrofluoric acid in response to public pressure after a 1987 accident.

“Pennsylvania and New Jersey facilities should follow Valero’s lead or, even better, completely protect the region’s residents by switching to solid acid catalysts,” recommended Masur. “Reducing and eliminating chemical hazards is the best way to fully protect Pennsylvania’s communities from accidental releases or terrorist attacks involving industrial chemicals.”

“This report clearly underscores what Clean Water Action has been stressing for the past two years – that Sunoco is far from a good neighbor in their refusal to switch from hydrofluoric acid to a safer alternative, said Eric Wilden, Eastern Pennsylvania Director for Clean Water Action. “Sunoco owes it to local residents, some of whom are already suffering from refinery-related health problems, to ease the threat of a dangerous leak that will put many lives at risk.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has identified more than 100 chemical facilities that each put more than one million people at risk of injury or death because of the hazardous chemicals they use and store onsite. No federal regulation requires industries to consider using safer chemicals or processes. PennEnvironment encourages Senators Collins (ME) and Leiberman (CT), who are currently drafting legislation, to require facilities to consider changing their chemicals and processes to a safer alternative in order to protect the communities in which they operate.

“As Congress continues to debate this issue, they should remember the millions of people living in the shadow of these facilities,” added Masur. “Nearly four years after September 11th, Congress must pass legislation that requires all chemical facilities change their processes and chemicals where possible.”