Industrial facilities dumped 2 million pounds of pollution into Texas air during winter storm
AUSTIN, Texas – Oil refineries, petrochemical plants and other unprepared industrial facilities in Texas reported releasing an estimated 2.1 million pounds of unauthorized pollution into the air during freezing temperatures last week, according to an Environment Texas Research and Policy Center review of emissions events reports.
“This pollution is largely preventable, but polluters continue to skimp on weatherization, which leads to big pollution dumps during extreme cold and hot weather,” said Luke Metzger, Executive Director of Environment Texas Research and Policy Center. “Texas families at risk are already dealing with a lot during extreme weather. They shouldn’t have to also worry about their kids breathing cancer-causing chemicals.”
After reviewing reports filed by companies to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Environment Texas Research and Policy Center found that plants across 27 counties reported at least 92 incidents releasing toxic chemicals between January 13th and January 16th. Nearly one-third of those incidents occurred in the Houston region, adding more than 800,000 pounds of pollution to the air.
In their initial reports to state regulators, corporations cited system failures and shutdowns caused by the extreme cold weather conditions, among other reasons, for the releases of extra pollutants.
In one case, a gas pipeline in west Texas cited the freeze as the reason they released nearly 300,000 pounds of planet-warming methane and other toxic chemicals in just over six hours on January 13th. An ExxonMobil facility near Beaumont, Texas, reported over 150,000 pounds of chemicals between January 16th and 17th, saying that the weather conditions “materially affected equipment in the refinery.” In another ExxonMobil facility in Baytown, 125,399 pounds of chemicals, including lung irritant sulfur dioxide, were emitted after “impacts to multiple units and associated equipment” occurred due to the inclement weather.
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