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NEW! OIL RAG issue # 3 (fwd)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 07:57:38 -0800 (PST)
From: Communities for a Better Environment <cbesf@igc.apc.org>
To: Recipients of conference <ecojustice@igc.apc.org>
Subject: NEW! OIL RAG issue # 3
From: cbesf@igc.apc.org (denny)
ISSUE #3-- Oil RAG -- MARCH--1996
--Cleaning up the oil industry one swipe at a time--
Newsletter of the National Oil Refinery Action! Network
published by Communities for a Better Environment--CBE
** SPECIAL DIOXIN CONFERENCE ISSUE **
Oil Refineries as a Source of Dioxin Pollution & Your Right to Know!
Greg Karras
Senior Scientist at CBE
Most U.S. refineries use at least one process known to produce
dioxin, and better testing might show refineries area major dioxin source.
In response to this revelation and a community campaign on March 6, 1996,
the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Board directed its staff to
find out about local dioxin sources. This investigation should include
better refinery testing. Here's the information we used to win this
victory.
...75% of U.S. refineries use processes which can generate dioxins...
Our search of discharger self monitoring reports submitted under
the Clean Water Act found dioxin discharges into San Francisco Bay from the
Unocal, Tosco, and Chevron refineries. A dioxin compound was detected in
their effluents at least 50 times over the past six years. Although
test methods are too insensitive to tell whether these refineries discharge
up to 120 times the more dioxin than allowed by law, Clean Water Act
violations are nevertheless confirmed at the Tosco refinery.
A Canadian study also found dioxin in refinery air emissions. Yet
Bay Area refineries' dioxin air emissions were untested.
Waste water dioxins concentrate in our fish and other food
resources. Dioxin air emissions expose nearby workers and neighbors
through inhalation, and fall to the ground where they enter soil and storm
runoff and then build up in our food chain.
We know one root cause of refinery dioxin. Dioxins form when
carbon deposits are burned off platinum and rhenium used in reforming in
order to allow reuse of these expensive metal catalysts, a process called
"regeneration." The reforming process is used by about three-quarters of
U.S. refineries to rearrange the structure of partially processed petroleum
molecules to make high-value fuels. Chlorinated solvents are added. Tests
of waste water from reformer catalyst regeneration confirm all 17 dioxin
and furan compounds that are known to have dioxin-like toxicity. Dioxin is
found in air emissions from this process as well.
A partial study by the Tosco refinery also found some dioxins in
waste waters from a coke pond and from cooling towers.
... it seems every refinery process tested emits dioxin ....
Since it seems every refinery process tested emits dioxin, it's
almost unbelievable that none of the dozens of other commonly used refinery
processes have been publicly tested.
Process units associated with coking, cracking, and refinery heat
and energy production operate at temperatures that can form dioxins. The
presence of chlorine compounds that are added to these processes or slip
through desalting, and metallic catalysts that may aid dioxin formation,
only increase the likelihood of these emissions.
Total amounts of dioxin pollution from all these processes remain
untested and unknown. However, the U.S. oil refining industry enjoys a
greater production rate than other industries that are major dioxin
sources. Its production grew drastically during the 1900s at the same time
that environmental dioxin levels increased. Large emissions from
refineries might help to explain the apparent gap between total source
estimates and amounts of dioxin found in our environment. Untested
refinery processes should be tested to assess total dioxin emissions and
target prevention efforts.
Whether or not refineries are major global dioxin polluters, we
know they contribute to local dioxin "hot spots" that exacerbate the
already-dangerous levels of exposure suffered by workers, neighbors, and
people who fish waters such as San Francisco Bay for food. We already have
dioxin in our bodies at or near levels that might cause cancer,
reproductive effects, immune system dysfunction and other serious diseases.
We cannot afford any more dioxin exposure. We need to find ways to phase
out dioxin production by these sources over time.
Meanwhile, if oil refineries in your area have ever been tested for
dioxin, the Oil Rag wants to know about it!
=46or more information contact: Greg Karras at CBE: 415-243-8373 or e-mail
to cbesf@igc.apc.org
Inside OIL RAG #3
National Oil Refinery ACTION! Network
REGIONAL UPDATES ... from around the nation
West Virginia
Community Battles Ashland Abuses Against the Odds
Dianne Bady, Director
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition
Six video monitors fill a wall at the Ashland branch office of the
Kentucky Division for Air Quality. On each monitor, I see a different part
of Ashland's sprawling Catlettsburg refinery. I notice smoky emissions
from one flare, and a regulator confirms that this is, indeed, not what
it's supposed to look like. But his desk is so full of draft violation and
malfunction notices against Ashland, as well as voluminous arguments
claiming innocence written by various Ashland officials, that it could be
months before the regulator has the time to look into this particular
problem.
...The impressive bank of video monitors (aimed at Ashland's refinery) ...
is a testament to the persistence of citizen activists...
The impressive bank of video monitors, the only video surveillance
system controlled by regulators in the country, is a testament to the
persistence of citizen activists who have fought Ashland's pollution
problems for over a decade. While the caustic fallouts that once burned
paint, and human skin, are no longer a frequent occurrence, the never
ending series of emissions accidents continues.
Highlights of the struggle:
1990 - A jury awards $10 million in damages to four plaintiffs suing.
Ashland for pollution damages. (The award is later thrown out in response
to legal challenges by Ashland. The judge demands a new trial. Ashland
throws their money around to make sure there never is another trial. Over
2000 citizens who have filed lawsuits against Ashland learn a bitter lesson
about who controls the legal system here.)
1993 - After hundreds of continuing complaints of health damages from
Ashland's pollution, US EPA Region 4 agrees to fund the "Tri State
Geographic Initiative" (TGI) to study and remediate pollution problems
here. EPA engineer Brian Holtzclaw takes over as coordinator.
1994 - US EPA levies the largest fine in its history against Ashland for
failing to report numerous excess emissions episodes.
1995 - Holtzclaw has been pressured by hundreds of refinery neighbors to
take action to clean up Ashland's
problems. After having thoroughly studied the pollution from the various
industries here, Holtzclaw makes strong, responsible
recommendations concerning Ashland's problems. Then he's forcibly removed
from the TGI. Holtzclaw files a whistle blowing lawsuit against US EPA and
Kentucky. EPA awards him $20,000 in damages and agrees to let him continue
working on the TGI.
1996 - Holtzclaw sits in a lonely office at EPA in Atlanta where his work
is carefully designed to keep him away from real pollution issues. Current
TGI officials ignore him.
1996 - Ashland CEO John Hall talks about the "Ashland family" in media news
stories. Almost a thousand members of the "Ashland family" recently went
on strike, stressing that provisions in management's proposed contract
would endanger the safety of OCAW union workers and neighbors alike.
Hundreds of other "Ashland family" members were locked in the refinery,
where they worked, slept and ate.
1990-1996 - Ashland's bottomless pit of money spent on media ads assures
that regional media usually look the other way when citizens complain of
pollution problems.
Meanwhile, students at nearby Marshall University study in the
opulent "John Hall Center for Academic Excellence", ubiquitous billboards
remind passersby of what a swell company Ashland is, and refinery neighbors
lose sleep worrying that the next accident could blow them away.
=46or more information contact: Dianne Bady, Director, or Laura Forman at
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, 304-522-0246, 1101 6th Ave..
Huntington, WV 25701
Texas
'Refinery Row' Files Civil Rights Complaint
Dr. Neil Carman
Clean Air Program Director, Texas Sierra Club
A major benzene spill at Koch refinery's East Plant in Corpus
Christi, Texas on November 4, 1995 resulted in several hours of exposure to
residents of a low-income, people of color neighborhood known as "Refinery
Row". A benzene storage tank overflowed due to mechanical failure of high
level alarms and residents estimate that several thousand gallons
ran into a containment ditch, but Koch officials claimed only 800 gallons
was spilled. Strong odors were reported at a nearby elementary school
where children and teachers were asked to "shelter in place". Residents
have been critical of "shelter in place" because delays in spill warnings
have caused unnecessary exposures and illness.
...Texas officials may not take enforcement action because the company
claimed the benzene spill was "purely accidental"...
Bill Green, regional executive director of People Against
Contaminated Environments (PACE), blasted a radio warning system as a
"farce" because its signal is too weak and never warns people in time.
During the November 4th benzene spill, several PACE members reported that
the alarm system failed and the radio signal was ineffective. Even though
state investigators began sampling late (more than an hour after the
spill), high levels of benzene were measured off-site. Texas officials
stated they might issue violations to Koch, but not take enforcement action
since the company claimed it was "purely accidental".
PACE and American GI Forum sent a Civil Rights complaint to EPA in
1994 and amended it in 1995. EPA Officials from the Civil Rights Office
were taken on a "toxic tour" of the area by local residents and Professor
Grover Hankins and Dr. Carman. Professor Hankins of the Thurgood Marshall
School of Law at Texas Southern University is representing residents in the
case and Dr. Neil Carman, Clean Air Program Director for Texas Sierra Club
and former Texas Air Control Board investigator, provided technical
assistance for the complaint. EPA officials saw first hand the deplorable
conditions of a community surrounded by 600 tanks,
refineries, petrochemical plants, a smelter, and other polluting facilities.
=46or more information contact: Bill Green at 512-289-5138 and Neil Carman a=
t
512-472-1767
Oklahoma
Sun Oil Refinery Declared Public Nuisance by Jury in Tulsa
In a lawsuit filed by 20 residents of a Tulsa neighborhood near the
Sun Oil refinery, a jury found that the facility had been a "nuisance".
This wasn't the first time Sun Oil had faced legal battles over its
Oklahoma operations. In May of 1995, the EPA issued a violation notice to
the Tulsa refinery for charges of non-compliance with the Clean Air Act,
including failing to get permits and burning dirtier gases in certain
units.
What is it like to live next to Sun Oil in Tulsa? The following
excerpt by Ron Holmes from Urban Tulsa gives you an idea.
On an unseasonably warm winter's day, Sandra Ruffin drives along,
winding through the hilly streets of the neighborhood where she has spent
the last 41 years.
She passes a run-down white frame house. "The couple who live
here are both sick. They're in their 40s, but they look much older. He
has to use oxygen and she has respiratory problems, but they can't afford
to move," she says. "The lady in the next block is sick. Her doctor told
her to move. That brick house on the corner, the man who lived there died
of cancer. He was only 50. Down the street, the guy was on oxygen. He
died. He was in his 60's. My grandparents, s couple of blocks over, both
died of cancer. The woman next door died of cancer and her husband has it
now..."
Of the 3,073 counties in the continental U.S., Tulsa ranks:
*33rd in annual excess deaths due to lung cancer
*49th in annual excess deaths of children from cancer
*50th in urban hazardous chemical air emissions,
*51st in urban suspected carcinogen emissions
*47th in lead concentrations in the air
Together these figures place Tulsa County in the dubious top 2% of the natio=
n.
...She goes on, reciting a litany of illness and death in her neighborhood.
"I was brought up thinking everyone died of cancer."
Ruffin is a resident of Owen Park, one of the small neighborhoods
which lie north of the river and west of downtown. She has become an
environmental activist, she would say, by necessity.
--The rag will continue the saga of Sun and the community battle for
justice in our next issue--
=46or more information contact: B.J. Medley, Earth Concerns of Oklahoma at
918-749-3353.
National Network Offers Workshops to Help Refinery Communities
The National Oil Refinery Action!Network is offering workshops to
communities who want to learn effective strategies to get pollution
problems cleaned up and other social and economic issues addressed.
These workshops can educate the public about the comprehensive
hazards and impacts of the oil industry and offer solutions that have led
to landmark settlements in California and other parts of the country.
If you would like to find out more about inviting the network to
schedule a workshop in your area contact Denny Larson at 415-243-8373 or
e-mail: "cbesf@igc.apc.org".
MORE ABOUT the National Oil Refinery ACTION! Network
Are you concerned about how refinery accidents affect your family's health?
Want to know how people like you have won major pollution reductions in
their communities?
Do you want to know more about the hazards and impacts of oil refineries?
JOIN
The National Oil Refinery ACTION! Network
=46acts about Oil Refineries & your health:
* Oil refineries dump thousands of pounds of toxic chemicals into
communities every day!
* Many toxic chemicals released by refineries into the environment are
known to cause cancer, birth defects, and other serious health problems.
* Odors from refineries can be more than a nuisance, such as hydrogen
sulfide, which can cause serious health impacts or death.
* Flares and thousands of leaks in equipment can dump dangerous pollution
into your air.
Yes! I'm interested in working with the National Oil Refinery ACTION!
Network. (NORAN) send to cbesf@igc.apc.org
Name_________________________________
Address________________________________
City________________________ State_______
Zip____________Phone___________________
I'd like: [ ] to join NORAN [ ] more info on NORAN
[ ] to set up a workshop [ ] subscribe to the Oil Rag
WHAT IS THE NATIONAL OIL REFINERY ACTION! NETWORK?
Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) invites you to join the National
Oil Refinery ACTION! Network (NORAN), a grassroots coalition of
communities, workers, responsible shareholders, and organizations sharing
information and resources to reform, on a national level, the petrochemical
industry through increasing the effectiveness of local and regional network
members and winning national pollution prevention commitments.
Did you know=8A
* California communities have convinced their refineries to reduce tons of
toxic emissions per day and install high tech air pollution monitors to
immediately track hundreds of chemicals?
* Communities in the Midwest and the South are being trained to win
similar commitments from their local refineries?
* The network is distributing grassroots how-to handbook and other
materials for communities like yours?
* With the help of the network, residents of South Philadelphia have won a
safety audit of the most troublesome units at the Sun Refinery?
By joining the network, you will link up with other people like you who are
fighting for clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. You will
receive a quarterly newsletter full of updates from around the country.
You will receive a grassroots handbook and other materials that will teach
techniques others have successfully used.
You will have the opportunity to help organize workshops in your region to
give you the skills you need.
The network's goal for 1996 is to hold a series of workshops in refinery
towns across the national to begin to organize and build the base for long
term, community based action to make the oil industry cleaner and safer for
workers and neighbors, on our own terms. If your community is interested
in a workshop please contact us!
CBE is a grassroots, urban environmental health organization based in San
=46rancisco that has first hand experience in negotiating six Good Neighbor
Agreements that have resulted in significant environmental and economic
improvements for oil refinery communities. CBE has technical knowledge of
state-of-the-art solutions to refinery pollution. CBE has been visiting
refinery communities to learn about their concerns and begin building the
network.
WHO IS ALREADY IN THE NETWORK?
*Grand Calumet Task Force-Indiana
*Louisiana Environmental Action Network
*Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
*Thurgood Marshall School of Law-Houston, Tx.
* Good Neighbor Project for Sustainable Industries
*Environmental Defense Fund
Around the World
Communities Fight Back at Big Oil!
Campesinos in Mexico Demand Compensation for Contamination by Pemex Oil Well=
s
The following is a first hand report from Tabasco by Global Exchange
volunteer Sunita Chethick who has been working in Chiapas.
On January 29, 1996, thousands of indigenous campesinos in Tabasco,
Mexico, belonging to the PRD political party, blocked the passage to 59 oil
wells, including the Sen oil field, the highest producing oil field in
Tabasco. Ten days later, unarmed and peaceful campesinos were dispersed by
police and troops using billy clubs and tear gas, resulting in 110 people
being incarcerated. "It is the poor who are defending the beauty of our
planet," stated a member of the Tabasco Human Rights Committee. The worst
confrontation was in Nacajuca, where more than 2,000 mostly female
campesinos were violently removed by a collaboration of Mexican armed
forces.
"We want schools, fully equipped health centers, paved roads." - Mexican
campesino expressing concerns similar to those of refinery neighbors in the
U.S.
The campesinos are protesting the contamination of the soil, air, and water
caused by more than 20 years of oil excavation by the Pemex Corporation,
Mexico's state-owned oil company. Oil spills, explosions, faulty
equipment, and unregulated toxic waste have polluted the environment to the
point where the indigenous people of this region are unable to produce
enough food to live on or
maintain their traditional livelihoods as farmers and fishermen. In the
region, 123 oil spills were reported in 1995.
Campesinos in Nacajuca, one of the regions most severely affected by the
contamination, report a 60% decrease in the production of coconuts, as well
as drastic production decreases in corn, beans, oranges, cacao, bananas,
and mangos. Rivers and lagoons are so contaminated that the fish
population has died out and people can no longer bathe or wash clothes in
the river. Disease is abundant, ranging from eye and throat irritations to
cholera epidemics. Coastal fishermen have reported a major decrease in
fish and oyster production which studies attribute to the rise in pollution
from continuous oil spills.
The current conflict is a result of years of struggle between
indigenous communities, Pemex, and the Mexican government. Before Pemex
began oil production, there was an abundance of fish and sufficient
harvests. People had believed Pemex would provide jobs and reinvest
profits into the local communities, but now people say 'development' has
brought only misery and destruction. Community leaders say the government
disregards the needs of the people and the impacts of contamination.
According to the Human Rights Committee of Tabasco (CODEHUTAB),
Pemex nets approximately $2 million U.S. dollars per day, which is three
times the annual debt of some local municipalities. Campesinos accuse
Pemex of invading their lands, exploiting the resources, and not sharing
any of the resources with the communities who live on the land. "We want
schools, fully equipped health centers, paved roads. It is not right that
they exploit us, invade and pollute our lands [as] they continue to grow
richer while we are living in misery," commented one campesino leader.
Studies showing that Pemex is responsible for the contamination
that has impacted various regions led to written agreements between Pemex
and government officials in which Pemex agreed to pay damages to the
affected parties and clean up the environment. However, most of these
damages have not been paid, the environment has not been cleaned up, and
there doesn't seem to be a system in place to ensure that these agreements,
once signed, are actually carried out.
On February 16, 1995, a Pemex gas line exploded in Platano y Cacao,
a community in the Municipality Centro in Villa Hermosa. Nine people were
killed, many more injured, and many lost their houses. Though Pemex and
government officials have signed documents acknowledging liability and
promising to pay compensation, not one payment has been made because the
campesinos affected do not have proper documentation to show they were
living in their houses prior to the explosion.
PRD members leading the demonstrations have made the following deman=
ds:
1. That Pemex pay the campesinos and fishermen for the losses incurred due
to the contamination.
2. That Pemex install anti-contamination equipment in their Tabasco
installations.
3. That Pemex present a program to the Congress of the Union and the
National Human Rights Commission to provide permanent maintenance to the
oleo ducts and gas ducts, to prevent explosions.
4. That Pemex designate resources for a program of integral development
exactly above where petroleum deposits are located.
5. That Pemex pay a predetermined tax to the municipal governments where
they have operations.
At the invitation of the Comite de Derechos Humanos de Tabasco (CODEHUTAB)
and the Movimiento Ciudadano por la Democracia (MCD), Global Exchange is
convening a fact finding delegation to go to the Mexican state of Tabasco
this March to investigate and report on the struggle between the federally
owned oil corporation, PEMEX, and peasants and workers who are demanding
that environmental and social needs not be overridden by industry concerns.
The struggle has been protracted and is part of a larger struggle across
the state and nation for accountable government and institutions -- an
issue that has been underlined in Tabasco by the well documented and
extreme violation of campaign spending limits by the PRI during the last
gubernatorial election. To learn more, write to: globalexch@igc.apc.org -
attn: Ted Lewis.
The Oil Rag publishes the stories submitted to us from around the world.
Authors of the stories are responsible for their submitted material.
PLease submit stories to cbesf@igc.apc.org
Our next deadline is April 22, 1996--EARTH DAY.