Should Regulators Coordinate Storm Shutdowns to Cut Pollution?
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The story
A new report recommends that Texas environmental regulators coordinate shutdowns of oil refineries and other petrochemical plants during major storms to prevent the sort of major pollution releases that took place last year during Hurricane Harvey.
This raises the broader issue of how resilient U.S. critical infrastructure is to extreme weather events.
Background
Hurricane Harvey shut down 61 percent of U.S. ethylene production capacity. Ethylene is generally considered to be the most important petrochemical on the planet.
As the center of the U.S.’ petrochemical industry, the Houston metro area has more than a dozen Superfund sites (the country’s most contaminated land) with a total of 41 around the state of Texas. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed from aerial imagery that 13 of Texas’ Superfund sites were inundated during Harvey, and the majority of these were in low-income areas. The New York Times found elevated levels of pathogens, heavy metals, and toxins at test sites.
Much of the U.S.’ refinery and chemical capacity is concentrated along the Gulf of Mexico, and thus vulnerable to extreme weather events. The damage Hurricane Harvey wrought was wide-ranging, including:
- Escaping gasoline from a submerged roof at a Phillips 66 storage tank;
- A sinking tank roof at ExxonMobil’s refinery complex in Baytown, which resulted in the release of hazardous gases including volatile organic compounds and benzene, above permitted levels;
- A lightning strike that disrupted operations and led to toxic gas releases at a Dow Chemical plant in Freeport.
Nearly every major Texas and Louisiana refinery was partly or completely shut down because of the hurricane, compromising daily production of at least 2.6 million barrels of refined petroleum products. A 2015 Union of Concerned Scientists report on rising sea level risk identified nearly every one of the affected facilities as vulnerable.
Critical drug shortages
Puerto Rico is one of the world’s biggest centers for pharmaceutical manufacturing. Its factories make 13 of the world’s top-selling brand-name drugs, including Humira for rheumatoid arthritis and Xarelto, a blood thinner used to prevent stroke.
In the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria’s devastation, drug companies and device makers with nearly $15 billion a year in business on Puerto Rico struggled to restore their operations so as to prevent national shortages of critical drugs. Thirteen of the drugs of greatest concern were sole-source, meaning that they are made only by one company.
The biggest problem the pharmaceutical manufacturing infrastructure faced was not damage to factories, but the instability of the electrical grid.
What went wrong
This latest report, published by the Environmental Integrity project, says that Houston-area refineries didn’t shut down until three days after Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a warning for coastal counties.
All told, an extra 8.3 million pounds of air pollutants were released during Harvey, including cancer-causing benzene. Corpus Christi refineries, many of which shut down sooner, released less pollution than did their Houston-area counterparts.
What to do
The report recommends that Texas regulators “plan, coordinate and stagger the often-complicated shutdowns of major industrial facilities during hurricanes and other disasters, as well as the subsequent restarting of plants."
It also recommends that the state not suspend pollution reporting requirements during future natural disasters as it did for months after Harvey.
What do you think?
Should regulators coordinate shutdowns to cut pollution during extreme weather events? Hit Take Action to tell your reps what you think, then share your thoughts below.
—Sara E. Murphy
(Photo Credit: iStock.com / Karl Spencer)
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