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 The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule, to be fully
implemented in 2018, that aims to reduce emissions of benzene and
other toxic emissions.
The EPA said the capital cost to refiners will be about $283
million, with an annualized cost of $63 million, but that the
standards will have a "negligible impact on the costs of petroleum
products," like gasoline and diesel fuel.
Gina McCarthy, the EPA administrator, said the pollution cuts will
lower the cancer risk from refineries for more than 1.4 million
people and are a "substantial step forward in EPA's work to protect
the health of vulnerable communities located near these facilities."
The standard will require continuous monitoring of concentrations of
benzene and other pollutants at the fence line of refineries. The
EPA said it would strengthen emissions controls at flares, storage
tanks and delayed coker operations that will cut thousands of tons
of hazardous air pollutants.
The American Petroleum Institute industry group said the EPA had
made "substantial improvements" in the rule, but estimated that the
regulation could still cost up to $1 billion.
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"Despite these improvements, regulators need to be thoughtful about
the additional impacts of new regulations and added costs to
delivering affordable energy to U.S. consumers," said Bob Greco, an
API refinery issues official.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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