ACCIDENT RISK AT OIL REFINERIES—U.S. PIRG Toxics and Environmental Health Advocate Meghan Purvis appeared on the PBS news program NOW with David Brancaccio on July 15 to discuss security lapses at oil refineries.

Through U.S. PIRG Education Fund, the organization’s researchers, attorneys and other staff conduct special investigations, craft public policy proposals, and organize public education and participation drives around emerging public interest issues. Here is a report on one U.S. PIRG Education Fund project, which is supported by the Bauman Foundation and the Beldon Fund.

In Philadelphia, PA, the Sunoco oil refinery holds enough hazardous hydrofluoric acid to endanger more than four million of the refinery’s neighbors in the event of an accident or terrorist attack. And there are 105 more industrial facilities like this one in the country.

So says a new report by U.S. PIRG Advocate Meghan Purvis entitled: “Needless Risk: Oil Refineries and Hazard Reduction,” which details the dangers that oil refineries pose to surrounding communities in the event of an emergency.

“Oil refineries pose a needless risk to millions of people across the country because of the hydrofluoric acid they store on-site,” said Purvis, appearing on PBS’s NOW on July 15. “We need Congress to act to prevent devastating releases of chemicals from oil refineries and other chemical companies.”

Across the country, petroleum refineries, chemical plants and other industrial facilities use and store large amounts of hazardous chemicals that could be released in the event of an accident or terrorist attack.

Such releases could endanger thousands or even millions of people who live in communities in close proximity to these facilities.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 106 facilities would each endanger at least one million people in the event of a worst-case chemical release. Another 3,000 facilities would endanger at least 10,000 people.

Many of these facilities, however, present an unnecessary risk to their surrounding communities because safer alternatives exist.

Industries often have multiple options for carrying out similar processes, and some of these options are inherently safer than others.

Petroleum refineries stand as a stark example of needless risk because of the availability of safer alternatives to the oil-processing agent hydrofluoric acid.

Key findings of the report include:

• Of the 148 petroleum refineries in the United States, 50 use hydrofluoric acid in their processing or store it on-site.

The remainder use safer alternatives, including modified hydrofluoric acid and sulfuric acid.

• The companies operating refineries using hydrofluoric acid with the most people residing in their vulnerability zones include Sunoco, Valero Energy Corporation, Marathon Ashland Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, CITGO, and ExxonMobil.

Each endangers at least 2 million people at their facilities across the country.

• Many companies, including ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Valero Energy Corporation, and Marathon Ashland, for example, own refineries using hydrofluoric acid as well as refineries that use other, safer technologies.

Congress is currently deliberating the issue of chemical security, and holding a series of hearings this summer before drafting legislation.

U.S. PIRG has long advocated requiring chemical facilities to use safer alternatives wherever possible.