After 3 Decades, EPA Tightens Toxic Air Standard for Oil Refineries

"Lawsuit helped force an update of emissions standards for dangerous chemicals that went unchanged nearly 30 years."

"The federal government has issued new guidelines to correct the chronic underestimation of toxic air pollutants emitted from oil refineries and petrochemical plants.

The Environmental Protection Agency late Monday released a revised set of "emission factors"—mathematical formulas used by industry to estimate the amount of air pollutants coming from their facilities.

The new emission factors acknowledge that refinery and chemical plant flares release four times as many volatile organic compounds (VOCs) than previously thought. VOCs are dangerous chemicals that can cause cancer and other illnesses. Emissions of hydrogen cyanide, a poisonous gas that attacks the nervous system, were underestimated by a factor of 10 from refineries' fluid catalytic cracking units—equipment used to make gasoline and other fuels."

Lisa Song and David Hasemyer report for InsideClimate News April 22, 2015.