... and what a Democratic Congress can do to stop them.
A few weeks ago, my local fishwrap did a story on the high levels of benzene in gasoline sold in the Pacific Northwest.
Benzene is a cancer-causing agent that is present at levels 3-10x higher in gas sold in the Pacific Northwest than in other parts of the United States. Primary risk-factors associated with benzene overexposure include Leukemia, and blood and bone-marrow cancers.
Unforunately, new rules being adopted by the EPA (modeled after Bush's failed Clear Skies initiative) will make the problem worse, not better for Oregonians.
Go below the fold for the full story ...
At issue is a rule change that will allow dirty refineries, such as those operating in the Pacific Northwest to purchase "benzine credits" from cleaner refineries, such as those in California and in the Gulf coast.
As the Eugene Register-Guard reports:
The EPA wants to cut average benzene levels in the nation's gasoline supply, but is willing to let some refineries - including those in the Pacific Northwest - keep producing gasoline with much-higher-than-average benzene content. The EPA says it has to balance the need for cleaner air against the cost of the fixes.
If the new rule is implemented as proposed in 2011, Oregon and Washington gasoline still would contain twice as much benzene as fuels produced in the East Coast states, including New York and New Jersey, the EPA estimates.
Oregonians in Portland, Eugene, and other parts of the Willamette Valley have 10-27x greater risk of getting cancer from Benzene exposure than people in other areas. If you live in Portland's upscale Pearl District, your exposure to Benzene is 200x higher than safe levels.
Oil and gas industry lobbyists oppose reducing Benzene levels in the Northwest, arguing that reducing benzene in Oregon gas is an expensive process that will result in higher gas prices.
Bill Becker, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials, disagrees:
Benzene is carcinogenic. It's cheap to regulate - less than a penny a gallon - and technologies exist to limit it substantially,
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has pledged to block the confirmation of Roger Martella to be general counsel of the EPA until the agency sets a minimum standard as proposed by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
However, the Democratic Congress needs to take a much stronger stance in protecting the air that we breathe. A good place to start would be to kill the notion of trading pollution credits from dirty plants to cleaner ones. They need to reintroduce, and strengthen, the clean power and clean smokestacks acts, which were killed in the last 3 legislative sessions and resist implementing regulations that would prevent states like Oregon from implementing regional air quality standards that are higher than levels set by the federal government (particularly when the Feds set weak standards).