Case Study: Oil Refineries in Contra Costa County

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Case Study Oil Refineries in Contra Costa County

• Carla Garcia
• Race, Poverty, and the Urban Environment
• Professor Raquel R. Pinderhughes
• Urban Studies Program, San Francisco State
  University, Spring 2004
• Public has permission to use the material herein,
  but only if author, course, and university are
  credited.

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Case Study Oil Refineries in Contra Costa County

• This presentation focuses on the
  emissions of pollutants from oil refineries, with
  Contra Costa County as a case study, and how the
  noxious wastes affects the high level of
  childrens asthma.
• Furthermore the presentation is designed
  to describe how toxins from oil refineries
  effects the public health of the surrounding
  community.
• The presentation will analyze and describe
  the purpose, function, problems, and locations of
  oil refineries in Contra Costa County.
• Moreover it pays particular attention to
  the social, environmental, and public health
  impacts of the process associated with the
  emissions of toxins from oil refineries.

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General Description of Oil Refineries

• Purpose
• Oil refineries are complex process plants which
  turn crude oil into a range of products,
  including petroleum.

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Crude Oil

• Crude Oil is unprocessed oil.
• It is derived from decaying animal and plants
  which lived millions of years ago.

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Crude Oil Hydrocarbons

• Crude oil contains hydrocarbons and form
  different classes including
• - Paraffins
• - Aromatics
• - Napthenes or Cycloalkanes
• - Alkenes Dienes and Alkynes

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Refineries Perform 3 Basic Steps

• 1) distillation separates the complex mixture
  of hydrocarbons in crude oil into components.

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Refineries Perform 3 Basic Steps

• 2) conversion splits or re-forms the backbone
  of carbon atoms in a hydrocarbon molecule in
  order to make new components of higher value

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Refineries Perform 3 Basic Steps

• 3) Treating substitutes hydrogen atoms for
  sulphur atoms in the hydrocarbons, thereby
  reducing the pollution caused when the ultimate
  products are burned
• - followed by blending together of the resulting
  components to make finished products.

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Function of Oil Refineries

• 1) use physical, thermal, and chemical separation
  techniques to separate crude oil into several
  components, including fuel
• 2) non-fuel products such as solvents and asphalt
• 3) chemical industry feed stocks such as benzene
  and propane

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Problems of Oil Refineries

• Toxic Pollutants of Oil Refineries and its effect
  on Air Pollution
• Oil refineries are one of the largest sources of
  air pollution in the Unites States
• Refineries are the fourth largest industrial
  source of toxic emissions and the single largest
  industrial source of benzene emissions, a known
  human carcinogen.

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Problems of Oil Refineries

• 2)Emissions of volatile organic compounds
  (VOCs).
• a) Refineries are the single largest
  stationary source of volatile organic
  compounds (VOCs), the primary precursor of urban
  smog.
• b) refineries release approximately 492
  million pounds
• of VOCs each year.
• c) oil refineries release more than twice
  as many VOCs as the next highest sector,
  organic chemical plants.

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Problems of Oil Refineries
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Problems of Oil Refineries

• Oil refineries are responsible in allowing
  hazardous toxins, otherwise know as fugitive
  emissions to be emitted into the local and global
  community.
• a) oil refineries vastly
  underreport leaks from valves to
• federal and state regulators
  
• b) these unreported fugitive
  emissions from oil refineries add
• millions of pounds of
  harmful pollutants to the atmosphere
• each year, including over 80
  million pounds of volatile
• organic compounds (VOCs) and
  over 15 million pounds of
• toxic pollutants (Waxman,
  1999).

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Problems of Oil Refineries

• Furthermore if these industries complied
  with Clean Air Act, much of the pollution would
  be eliminated.
• c) Fugitive emissions come from a
  number of
• sources, including leaking valves,
  pumps, seals,
• connectors, pressure relief
  devices, and storage
• tanks.
• d) The majority of toxic pollutants
  from oil refineries
• are released a fugitive emissions.
  According to
• TRI data, rep oil refineries
  reported releasing 31
• million pounds of toxic fugitive
  emissions in 1997,
• more than half of the 58.7 million
  pounds of toxic
• air pollutants released

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Locations of Oil Refineries

• United States oil refineries are located in
• - Texas 27 refineries
• - California 24 refineries
• - Louisiana 20 refineries
• - Pennsylvania 6 refineries
• - New Jersey 6 refineries
• - Illinois 6 refineries
• 
  
  (Waxman, 1999).

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Public Health Issues

• Air pollutants are considered toxic when they
  have the potential to cause serious adverse
  health effects, such as cancer, neurotoxicity, or
  reproductive toxicity.
• Examples of these toxic air pollutants include
  benzene, a known human carcinogen, and xylenes,
  which depress the central nervous system, damage
  the kidneys, and irritate the respiratory system.
  (Waxman, 2000)

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Public Health Issues

• Refineries are the single largest stationary
  source of VOCs, the primary precursor of urban
  smog.
• Ground level ozone, a toxic gas that is the
  primary ingredient of urban smog, is formed when
  emissions of VOCs react with nitrogen oxide
  (NOx) emissions in the presence of sunlight

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Public Health Issues

• High levels of smog have been linked to
  serious health problems, including irritation
  of the respiratory system. Smog also aggravates
  preexisting respiratory diseases such as asthma.

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Public Health Issues

• Children, the elderly, and people with
  respiratory conditions, including asthma are
  especially susceptible to ozone pollution.

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Asthma

• Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of
  the airways.

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Asthma

• Asthma is a growing epidemic with the rate
  of Americans suffering from asthma being doubled
  in the last fifteen years, 1980-1996.
• (Department of
  Health and Human Services, 2002).

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Asthma

• 9 million children are affected by asthma.
  (Pudget Sound Clean Air Agency, 2002)

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Asthma

• - Asthma sufferers feel their lungs constrict and
  experience, each new breath as if drawn through a
  narrow straw.
• - Asthma is the most prevalent chronic disease
  among children in California

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Asthma

• According to a California study,
  researchers show that children who breathe
  heavily polluted air are more likely to develop
  asthma.
• The study reports, the strongest evidence yet
  that smog can not only aggravate existing
  childhood asthma, which has reached epidemic
  proportions among American youth, but may
  actually be one cause of the life-threatening
  disease.
• 
  (Pudget Sound Clean Air Agency, 2002).

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Asthma

• Exacerbations can be triggered by exposures
  and conditions such as outdoor air pollutants.
  (Department of Health and Human Services, 2002).

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Serious Health Impacts of Asthma

• Asthma is a potentially fatal, chronic disease
  responsible for over 1.8 million emergency room
  visits per year, over 460 thousand
  hospitalizations per year and over five thousand
  deaths per year
• (Department of Health
  and Human Services, 2002).

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Social Impacts of Pediatric Asthma

• Besides health impacts on children there are
  many social impacts that affect asthmatic
  children.
• 1) School Absenteeism
• a) Asthma accounts
• for 14 million lost
• school days
• annually.
• 
  (American Lung Association)

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Social Impacts of Pediatric Asthma

• Millions of lost hours at work for parents who
  must nurse sick kids.
• The estimated annual cost of treating asthma in
  those under 18 years of age is 3.2 billion. 
  (American Lung Association)

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Social Impacts of Asthma

• Disproportionate Burden of Asthma in Minority
  Populations and Those Living in Poverty.

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Social Impacts of Asthma

• Although asthma affects Americans of all ages,
  races and ethnic groups, recent data indicate
  that children, low-income and minority
  populations have been most severely affected
• (Department of Health and Human Services,
  2000).

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Social Impacts of Asthma

• The reasons for the disparities are due to
  interaction of factors including lack of access
  to quality medical care, high levels of exposure
  to environmental allergens and irritants,
  language barriers, and lack of financial
  resources and social support to manage the
  disease effectively on a long-term basis

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Environmental Injustices

• Environmental racism and environmental
  inequity are, evidence that
• environmental hazards are not distributed
  equally among various groups of people, either in
  the United States or throughout the world.
  Instead, communities of color and to lesser
  extent, poor people in general are exposed to
  hazardous and toxic wastes, dangerous working
  conditions, polluted air and water, and other
  environmental insults to a greater degree than
  are non-colored communities and people of higher
  incomes. (Newton,
  1996).

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Environmental Injustices
DISTRIBUTION OF BURDENS BY RACE/ETHNICITY IN
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
1.92
2.00
DISTRIBUTION OF BURDENS BY INCOME/ IN CONTRA
COSTA COUNTY
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A Case Study of Contra Costa County and Richmond,
CA

Ethnic Composition of Richmond, California
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A Case Study of Contra Costa County and Richmond,
CA

• Since 1989, there have been 35 major industrial
  accidents in Contra Costa County, California,
  making it one of the most dangerous places to
  live in the nation. (University of Michigan).
• Between 1989 and 1995, there were over 1900
  different incidents reported in the county,
  making it the eleventh worst area in the entire
  United States with regards to toxic accidents
  (University of Michigan).
• Chevron had 304 accidents between 1989 and
  1995 -- major fires, spills, leaks, explosions,
  toxic gas releases, flaring, and air
  contamination (University of Michigan).

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History of Serious Accidents at
Chemical/Refinery Plants in Contra Costa County
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Conclusion

• Emissions from oil refineries contribute to
  noxious pollution, which has detrimental and
  adverse health effects on the surrounding
  community, inflicting environmental racism and
  environmental inequity upon the people of Contra
  Costa County.

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Bibliography

• City of Richmond. (2002, May). Basic Fact Sheet.
  Retrieved on March 16, 2004
• From http//www.ci.richmond.ca.us/Non-Flash/Infor
  mation/factsheet.pdf
• Contra Costa Health Services (2002-2004).
  Hazardous Material Program. Retrieved on
• April 16, 2004 from
• http//www.cchealth.org/
• Ecology Center (2003, February) The True Cost of
  Petroleum
• Community News.
• Retrieved March 17, 2004, from
• Http//www.ecologycenter.org/erc/petroleum/commun
  ity.html

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Bibliography

• Department of Health and Human Services. )May
  2000) Action Against Asthma
• A Strategic Plan for the Department of Health
  and Human Services.
• Retrieved March 16, 2004 from
• http//opac.sfsu.edu/search/dAsthmaairpollution/
  dasthmaairpollution25,0B/1856FFdasthmaunited
  statesprevention1,1,,1,0
• Newton, Davis (1996). Environmental Justice.
  Santa Barbara ABC-
• CLO
• Pearce, N., Beasley, R., Burgess, C. Crane, J.
  (1998). Asthma Epidemiology
• Principles and Methods. New York Oxford
  University Press
• Pudget Sound Clean Air Agency. (2002, January),
  Study Air Pollution May Cause
• Childhood Asthma. Retrieved on March 17,
  2004 from
• www.pscleanair.org

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Bibliography

• Scorecard Organization. (2003) Air Quality
  Criteria. Retrieved on April 17, 20004
• Fromwww.scorecard.org
• University of Michigan, (n.d.) Environmental
  Justice Case Study West Contra
• Costa County Toxics Coalition and the Chevron
  Refinery. Retrieved
• March 17, 2004 from
• http//www.umich.edu/snre492/sherman.html
• Waxman, Rep. H.A. (1999 November). Minority Staff
  Special Investigations Division
• Committee on Government Reform in the U.S. House
  of Representatives.
• Retrieved on March 16, 2004 from
• qcacheMfi4TsEW4MIJwww.house.gov/reform/min/pdfs
  /pdf_inves/pdf_enviro
• _oil_refine_rep.pdfoilrefineriesfailtoreport