Testimony
to Senate EPW and Judiciary Committees
July 16, 2002
My name is
Hilton Kelley, Port Arthur, Texas. Community In-power and Development
Association and the Refinery Reform Campaign.
I am grateful
for the opportunity to speak out on behalf of refinery communities across the
nation and tell the Senate the truth about what pollution is doing to us and
how much worse it would be under the new EPA proposal to rollback New Source
Review. For example, by allowing
refineries to go backwards ten years to pick their baseline, pollution will
increase. It makes no sense to go
backward; we need to move forward and keep working to reducing pollution by
enforcing NSR fully.
Everyone needs
to know that the Clean Air Act, as it now stands, must be preserved and the new
EPA proposal is really a death sentence for already sick industrial
neighborhoods. The Clear Skies Proposal
of the Bush Administration will do nothing for us because it deals only with
power plants. It doesn’t cover
refineries and chemical plants.
Refineries are located in thirty-six states, 125 cities and up to 67 million people breathe air polluted by oil refineries. This is a national problem and the only solution we see is strict enforcement of the New Source Review, not a relaxation.
I grew up in
Port Arthur’s Westside in the Carver Terrace housing project right next to the
cluster of refineries. I moved away,
but in 2000, I returned. I am on a
crusade to empower local citizens to fight for their health and a key element
of that crusade is to protect the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review.
The rest of
the country needs what Port Arthur makes, just like other refinery communities.
The neighbors live with the fallout, pollution and health problems. Texas is home to America's largest oil
refineries and chemical plants. While the state produces the energy the nation
needs, it also produces more industrial pollution than any other state
according to the latest Right To Know data. Our neighborhoods pay the highest
price for the rest of the nation’s “cheap gasoline”. Sometimes it can take your breath away. We benefit the least in this bargain as we
have high unemployment. Although the
plants get tax breaks by being in an “Empowerment Zones”, our people don’t see
the benefits.
It seems that these heavy
industries concentrate in low income communities and communities of color where
there is the least resistance. They
operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and expand constantly. Right now we are challenging another
expansion of the Premcor refinery that wants to dump 525 more tons of pollution
on us so that they can make low sulfur gasoline. It seems we never have a chance to get cleaner air.
This problem has a human face.
In Port Arthur, almost every day, ten-year-old Cullen Como gets a
breathing treatment for asthma. The illness causes him to miss school often.
His mother and sister also have trouble breathing. The family lives right
across the street from the refineries. Cullen's sister, Kendra Prince, says,
" It's dangerous, and everybody around here is sick, everybody. It's just
killing off people."
The plants emit a toxic soup of
chemicals. These chemicals are known to cause cancer, affect brain functions,
and hurt organ development and reproduction.
We, like other refinery communities, have teamed up with Denny Larson, of the Refinery Reform Campaign to form a local “Bucket
Brigade” for Port Arthur. The bucket is
a simple, but effective air sampler. It uses a special bag and vacuum pump. Air
samples taken during toxic releases have shown unhealthy levels of hydrogen
sulfide, benzene and other dangerous chemicals. We were forced to do this because there are no real air monitors
in our community.
Annie Edwards, who suffers from
breathing problems, has two breathing machines and has a terrible reaction to
the neighborhood atmosphere. "Like I panic and I can't catch enough air,
and if I go outside, it's worse. I have
to strap on my breathing machine at night so I don’t pass on while I
sleep."
I know from walking door to door
that these problems are widespread. Too many people are dying from cancer. Too
many people have thyroid problems. We have two dialysis clinics in this small
town, and it's time for the citizens to say, 'Enough is enough,' and it's time
to do something about it.
We want to work with industry. We
want them to put the necessary controls on their stacks, put the necessary
controls on their valves, so they will quit emitting so much tons of pollution
in the community.
We also have a huge pollution
problem with accidents, fires, explosions and upset emissions releasing
thousands of pounds of chemicals into our air through flares, relief valves and
dump stacks.
Some Examples
are:
80,000 pounds of propane/butane mix, 7,704 pounds of VOCs per hour, 207,112 pounds of sulfur dioxide, 2,218 pounds of hydrogen sulfide, 163 pounds of nitrogen oxides.
Premcor Refining - Port Arthur
Feb.
19, 2002 - About 5,650 pounds of propane and 143 pounds of
hydrogen sulfide were released during the 219-hour upset.
Jan. 21, 2002, the plant experienced an upset, during a 14-hour period, about 57,000 pounds of benzene, 1,055,000 pounds of ethylene, 675,000 pounds of propylene, 462,000 pounds of butylene, 2,200 pounds of butadiene and 2,200 pounds of toluene were released.
Jan. 2, 2002, upset, about 26 pounds of hydrogen sulfide per hour, 2,479 pounds of sulfur dioxide per hour, 295 pounds of VOCs per hour and six pounds of nitrogen oxides per hour were released. The upset lasted 168 hours.
A recent health survey done by
University of Texas toxicologist Marvin Legator compared people living in
housing projects in refinery communities like Port Arthur and Beaumont to a
non-industrial similar population. Preliminary results show a vast difference
between the health symptoms these communities report.
Dr. Legator has made a strong
correlation between the known health effects from the emissions from the
refineries and the health symptoms we experience.
Another study conducted by
MacArthur Genius Award winning Scientist, Wilma Subra, showed that health
symptoms and emergency room visits increase when there is a spill or unexpected
release from the plants.
Glenn Alexander, a pediatric nurse
practitioner, has been treating local children for ten years. His waiting room
is nearly always full. He sees an unusually large number of upper respiratory
infections, allergies, skin rashes and asthma.
"I do see things because I am a health care provider. The air is not always clear here. Sometimes
it's hard for children to breathe."
Some of the effects are irreversible and a life long problem.
Alfred Dominic was born in Port
Arthur in 1928: "Many of my friends have died of cancer, and many of them
are sick at the present time, because of the emissions."
Mabel Mallard a SUNOCO refinery
neighbor of South Philadelphia, PA, states:
“How can we live in constant fear not knowing what we will be forced to
breathe next from these refineries?
Don’t tread on our New Source Review, we need the protection.”
Conclusions:
1.
New Source Review should be
preserved and fully enforced. It is a
grave matter of environmental justice to people who need the help of the U.S.
Senate to protect their health and the health of innocent children. Going backward to allow refineries to pick a
baseline from the last ten years is unthinkable to people living on the
fenceline suffering from current levels of pollution.
2.
The Clear Skies Plan won’t
help us. We need the federal protection
and right to know of the New Source Review.
Thank you. I would be happy to answer any of your
questions.
Hilton Kelley
Community
In-power and Development Association
Refinery
Reform Campaign.
1401 Kansas Ave
Port Arthur, TX