BENZENE PODCAST

Becky: Hello! Welcome to this podcast by the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. My name is Becky Klingler, and joining me today is Andrea Martinez, the auditor in charge of a report just published by the OIG examining how well EPA oversight ensures that petroleum refineries comply with the regulatory requirements to monitor their benzene concentrations and to take action, if needed, to lower those concentrations. Thanks for joining me today, Andrea. 

ANDREA: I’m happy to be here, Becky!

BECKY: First, can you explain what benzene is exactly? And why there is a need to limit benzene  concentrations?

ANDREA: Sure! Benzene is a hazardous air pollutant emitted by petroleum refineries, and it is a known human carcinogen. The EPA’s National Air Toxics Assessment classified benzene as a -quote- national cancer risk contributor -unquote-, which means that more than one in one million people are at risk of cancer because of exposure to benzene emissions.

BECKY: Your report focuses on fencelines. What does that mean, and why are fencelines important?

ANDREA: Most benzene emissions at refineries are fugitive emissions, meaning they do not come from a particular stack or vent. Instead, they come from open sources, like tanks and equipment leaks. The highest concentration of fugitive emissions outside of a refinery’s property boundary, which is referred to as the refinery’s fenceline, is likely to occur at ground level. As such, high concentrations of benzene outside the fenceline could pose risks to nearby communities.  

BECKY: The EPA regulates benzene concentrations at the fencelines of refineries. How does it do this?

ANDREA: The EPA has set a threshold concentration of 9 micrograms per cubic meter, which is referred to as the action level. Using a network of monitors installed around their fencelines, refineries must continuously monitor and collect their concentration levels every two-weeks, and then use those measurements to determine whether they are over the action level. If a refinery’s annual average concentration, based on the preceding 52 weeks of data, is above the action level, it is required to take action to reduce the annual average concentration to or below 9 micrograms per cubic meter. 

BECKY: What happens to all the monitoring data and measurements that the refineries collect?

ANDREA: The refineries must submit their fenceline monitoring data to the EPA on a quarterly basis. The EPA processes those data, and then makes the data publicly available through an online system called WebFIRE and an EPA Monitoring Dashboard.

BECKY: And what happens when a refinery determines, based on its monitoring data, that its annual average concentration has exceeded the action level? 

ANDREA: Well, that is technically not, in and of itself, a violation of the current regulations. Rather, an exceedance triggers a legal obligation for the refinery to take action to lower its benzene concentration to or below the action level. Specifically, the refinery must conduct a root cause analysis to identify why its benzene concentration is too high and then take appropriate corrective action. But, if the benzene concentration is still too high after the corrective action is completed, or if the corrective action will take longer than 45 days to implement, then the regulations say that the refinery must submit a corrective action plan to the EPA or a delegated authority. A delegated authority is a state or local agency that the EPA has approved to oversee the benzene requirements within their borders. 

BECKY: Let me make sure I’m understanding this: a refinery does not violate regulations by exceeding the action level, but it could be in violation of the regulations if it does not take timely or appropriate corrective action, or if it does not submit a corrective action plan to the EPA or a delegated authority.

ANDREA: Yes, that’s right. Of course, the goal of any corrective action is to reduce a refinery’s benzene  concentrations to or below the action level. 

BECKY: And did your audit find that to be the case – that most petroleum refineries did reduce their benzene concentrations to or below the action level after an exceedance?

ANDREA: We looked at 118 refineries, which is the number that submitted their fenceline monitoring data to the EPA from February 2018, which is when most refineries were required to start reporting data, through September 2021, which is the latest month for which we had data when we began our audit. In that time frame, the average benzene concentration for all refineries decreased. But that doesn’t mean that all the refineries were always below the action level.  Twenty-five of the 118 refineries, or 21 percent, exceeded the action level at least once in that time frame. And 13 of those 25 refineries exceeded the action level for twenty or more weeks after their initial exceedance. Three never did manage to reduce their benzene concentrations to or below the action level during our period of analysis, while another six that successfully reduced their benzene concentrations ended up once again exceeding the action level.

BECKY: Why is there such a variance? 

ANDREA: We identified a couple of possible reasons. Refineries with annual averages over the action level may not be identifying the true root cause for those exceedances, or they may not be planning or taking appropriate corrective actions. For example, we looked at eight corrective plans submitted by four refineries and found that only one refinery managed to reduce and keep its benzene concentration to or below 9 micrograms per cubic meter for ten subsequent weeks. The other three either never reduced their benzene concentration to or below 9 micrograms per cubic meter within ten weeks, or if they did reduce it, they exceeded that level once again in that same ten-week period. 

BECKY: So, only one of those refineries had a corrective action plan that appropriately mitigated the reason for the exceedance, right? And the other three either took corrective actions that weren’t appropriate, or they didn’t identify the true root cause for the exceedance in the first place.

ANDREA: Yes, that was our conclusion. Also, not all the corrective action plans were complete. For example, five of the eight plans we reviewed did not include completion dates for all the proposed corrective actions. And although the regulations require the refineries to submit their plans to the EPA or a delegated authority, the regulations do not require the EPA or delegated authority to review and approve the plans. There is therefore no formal mechanism for the EPA or delegated authority to provide feedback if it believes the corrective action plan is not complete or appropriate.

BECKY: Is there any oversight mechanism for the EPA to use when it comes to monitoring and enforcing compliance with the benzene fenceline monitoring requirements?

ANDREA: Yes. The EPA reviews the quarterly fenceline monitoring data to identify refineries with potential noncompliance. But when we looked at the data that the refineries submitted from February 2018 through September 2021, we noted that five refineries – all located in Regions 5 and 8 – did not submit all the required data, including one that had 26 weeks of missing data. Without complete data, the EPA cannot be sure it is identifying all cases of benzene exceedances. Still, the EPA does take additional oversight actions at problematic refineries. For example, the EPA holds conference calls with refineries that exceed the action level, conducts on-site inspections to assess compliance with the regulations, and conducts real-time pollutant monitoring to identify high benzene concentrations at refineries. However, we found that such oversight did not always result in reduced benzene concentrations to or below the action level.

BECKY: When EPA oversight doesn’t produce an acceptable outcome, does the EPA take enforcement action to bring the refineries into compliance? 

ANDREA: As part of our audit, we took a deep dive into the nine refineries that had the worst benzene concentrations. We found that the EPA took action against only one of those nine during the time period covered by our analysis, and delegated authorities had not taken enforcement action at any of the nine. 

BECKY: Why hasn’t the EPA been more forceful in terms of enforcement?

ANDREA: We identified several possible reasons for the limited enforcement, including delegated authorities’ confusion about what exactly constitutes a violation of the regulations. Also, identifying regulatory violations is not as easy as determining whether a refinery exceeds the action level, but rather you have to look at whether corrective actions were inappropriate or not completed in a timely manner. This is a time-intensive process that requires EPA to prioritize their resources.

BECKY: You mentioned earlier the impact on communities bordering the fencelines where benzene concentrations are the highest. Can you explain a little more about that?

ANDREA: Sure! Prolonged exceedances at fencelines mean that nearby communities could be exposed to benzene concentrations that increase the risk of adverse health effects. Of the 25 refineries that exceeded the action level, 18 also exceeded what is called the minimal risk level, which is an estimate of the amount of benzene a person can breathe each day for up to two weeks without an appreciable risk of adverse noncancer health effects. Of these 18, 14, or about 78 percent, are in communities with higher-than-average percentages of people of low income and/or people of color. These are demographic indicators of communities with environmental justice concerns.

BECKY: Andrea, you and your team report some compelling findings, and I know we’ve only scratched the surface here. But can you summarize what the EPA can do to address your findings?

ANDREA: The OIG made six recommendations to the EPA, including that the Agency issue guidance regarding what constitutes a violation of the regulations and a strategy on how to address refineries that do not reduce their benzene concentrations to or below the action level. We also recommended that the Agency investigate the gaps in monitoring data that we identified in our report, as well as periodically review submitted data for such gaps in the future.

BECKY: Thank you so much, Andrea. To our listeners, we appreciate your time with us today. For more information on this report, which is titled The EPA Should Enhance Oversight to Ensure that All Refineries Comply with the Benzene Fenceline Monitoring Regulations, or to read other OIG reports, please visit our website at www dot epa oig dot gov.