How To Clean Swimming Pool After Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey Air Pollution: Interactive Database

Air Pollution Reported by Oil Refineries, Chemical Plants, and Industrial Facilities

by Connor Gibson

October 25, 2017

Reports filed by companies to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) show that over 5.7 million pounds of air pollution were released past chemic plants, oil refineries and industrial facilities in the calendar month afterwards Harvey made landfall. 90% of this air pollution was released by 13 companies.

Click for full-page Hurricane Harvey Air Pollution Database. Ringlet downwardly for Methodology & References.

Total Air Pollution Reported: 5,700,328 lbs

Total of Most Hazardous Chemicals: 1,529,483 lbs

12 Companies Responsible for 90% Percentage of Full Air Pollution:

Magellan Midstream Partners, (2.529 meg lbs, 44.four% of total)
Valero Energy (579,351 lbs, 10%)
Saudi Aramco (439,244 lbs, 7.7%)
Dow Chemic (352,640 lbs, six.1%)
INEOS (244,111 lbs, 4.3%)
Kinder Morgan (166,057 lbs, 2.ix%)
Formosa Plastics (160,692 lbs, 2.8%)
Total (155,726 lbs, 2.7%)
ExxonMobil (130,928 lbs, 2.three%)
Enbridge (115,484 lbs, 2%)
Royal Dutch Shell (114,996, two%)
LyondellBasell (114,749, ii%)
Total = v,103,197; xc%

10 Companies Responsible for 90% Per centum of Most Hazardous Chemicals:

Magellan Midstream Partners, (534,310 lbs, 34.9%)
Valero Energy (274,051 lbs, 17.nine%)
Saudi Aramco (179,118 lbs, 11.7%)
Total (147,823 lbs, 9.seven%)
Enbridge (74,970 lbs, 4.9%)
Dow Chemical (53,844 lbs, 3.5%)
ExxonMobil (45,949 lbs, 3%)
Cabot Oil & Gas (33,611 lbs, 2.ii%)
Purple Dutch Shell (32,777 lbs, ii.one%)
Marathon Petroleum (24,768 lbs, one.6%)
Total = ane,401,221 lbs, 91.6%

Economical Injustice:

42 out of 45 facilities are located in communities with to a higher place-average rates of poverty (excludes xi facilities without available data)

Environmental Racism:

43 out of 45 facilities with available information are located in communities that are unduly inhabited past people of color (excludes eleven facilities without available data).

Cities facing the most air pollution:

Galena Park (ii.529 1000000 lbs, 44.7% of total)
Port Arthur (931,264 lbs, 16.34%)
Freeport (351,519 lbs, 6.17%)
Corpus Christi (301,734 lbs, v.29%)
Alvin (242,323 lbs, iv.25%)
Houston (239,003 lbs, 4.nineteen%)

Cities facing the most toxic chemicals:

Galena Park (534,310 lbs, 34.ix%)
Port Arthur (508,793 lbs, 33.3%)
Corpus Christi (112,377 lbs, seven.four%)
Streetman (74,970 lbs, four.9%)
Freeport (53,842 lbs, three.5%)

Total of Unspecified Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): 232,212 lbs

(See full-folio Hurricane Harvey Air Pollution Database)

Mapping Tools for Harvey Pollution:

Sierra Club & T.due east.j.a.due south.: Map of Hurricane Harvey: Toxic Sites
Environmental Integrity Project: Map of Pollution Spills onto State and Water During Hurricane Harvey
Marriage of Concerned Scientists: Flooded by Hurricane Harvey: New Map Shows Energy, Industrial, and Superfund Sites
Houston Advanced Research Eye: Summarizing Hurricane Harvey's Environmental Impacts

REFERENCES:

Community Groups, Scientists, and Environmental Advocates:

Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (T.e.j.a.s.): Toxic Tours
Air Brotherhood Houston: Hurricane Links and Resources; and Air Pollution in the News (Harvey)
Air Brotherhood Houston and Environmental Defence Fund: Harm to Valero Refinery Releases Benzene into Manchester Customs
Environs Texas and TexPIRG: Worried nearly pollution later Harvey?
Sierra Club: At Least 10 Houston Area Chemic Facilities and Oil and Gas Refineries Have Already Reported Problems with Dozens More Threatened
Centre for Biological Diversity: Analysis: Virtually ane Meg Pounds of Vii Deadly Air Pollutants Released by Texas Refineries During Harvey Floods
Union of Concerned Scientists & T.east.j.a.south.: Double Jeopardy in Houston: Astute and Chronic Chemical Exposures Pose Asymmetric Risks for Marginalized Communities (2016)
Matrimony of Concerned Scientists: As Arkema Plant Burns, Half dozen Things We Know About Petrochemical Risks in the Wake of Harvey
Earthjustice: see posts on Harvey written by Diane Carman, Mollie Fager, and Keith Rushing.
Ecology Defense Fund and Environment Texas: Toxic Air Pollution is One of Harvey'south "Unseen Dangers"
Greenpeace USA: Photos of Hurricane Harvey Impacts on Petrochemical Facilities

Activities at a refining constitute in Port Arthur, Texas more a calendar week after Hurricane Harvey slammed the area. The human impacts of Hurricane Harvey have been staggering, and the greatest business concern is for the people struggling in its aftermath. This disaster makes articulate once over again that littoral Texas and the wider Gulf region are on the frontlines of body of water level ascension and extreme weather heightened past climatic change, every bit well as the toxic impacts from fossil fuel infrastructure.

Media Reports:

Emily Atkin, "Unbearable" petrochemical smells are reportedly globe-trotting into Houston, The New Commonwealth, Aug. 28, 2017
Dianna Wray, Is Harvey Also a Threat to the Air We Exhale?, Houston Press, Aug. 28, 2017
Darryl Fears and Brady Dennis, Harvey'southward flooding spurs concern about Houston'due south toxic waste sites, Washington Post / Texas Tribune, Aug. 29, 2017
Tracy Dang, Harvey prompts force majeures, more U.s.a. establish shutdowns, ICIS News, Aug. 29, 2017
Steven Mufson, ExxonMobil refineries are damaged in Hurricane Harvey, releasing hazardous pollutants, Washington Postal service / Texas Tribune, Aug. 29, 2017
Benjamin Lefebvre, Harvey triggers spike in chancy chemic releases, Politico, Aug. 29, 2017
Mike Lee, Corbin Hiar, and Hannah Northey, Dozens of refinery leaks reported; more than toxic spills probable, E&E Publishing, Aug. 30, 2017
Tom DiChristopher, Harvey shuts down largest US oil refinery, bears downward on Louisiana plants, CNBC, Aug. 30, 2017
Floodwaters topple 2 oil storage tanks in southward Texas, spilling almost xxx,000 gallons of rough, Associated Press, Aug. 30, 2017
Zoë Schlanger, Oil refineries in Hurricane Harvey'southward path are polluting Latino and depression-income neighborhoods, Quartz, Aug. thirty, 2017
Alessandra Potenza, Harvey's flooding is triggering chemical spills, which could cause other environmental disasters, The Verge, Aug. 30, 2017
David Sirota, Alex Kotch, Jay Cassano, and Josh Keefe, Texas Republicans Helped Chemical Institute That Exploded Foyer Confronting Condom Rules, International Business Times, Aug. 31, 2017
Ben German, Harvey's energy toll: refineries, pipelines and more than, Axios, Aug. 31, 2017
Mike Lee, Swamped chemic plant explodes, burns in storm's wake, E&Due east Publishing, Aug. 31, 2017
Matt Dempsey and Hashemite kingdom of jordan Blum, Chemical facilities face up danger during Harvey shutdowns, Chron.com, Aug. 31, 2017
Brian New, More Fires At Flood-Hitting Crosby Chemical Plant Expected, CBS 11 DFW, Aug. 31, 2017
Todd C. Frankel, Abagail Hauslohner, David A. Farenthold, New dangers lurk in Harvey'southward wake, Washington Post, Aug. 31, 2017
Hiroko Tabuchi and Sheila Kaplan, A Sea of Wellness and Environmental Hazards in Houston's Floodwaters, New York Times, Aug. 31, 2017
Zahra Hirji and Jeremy Vocaliser-Vine, Impairment From Harvey Has Already Caused Millions Of Pounds Of Toxic Pollutants To Be Released Into The Air, Buzzfeed News, Aug. 31, 2017
Jen Kirby, The Environmental Fallout of Hurricane Harvey, New York Magazine, Sept. 1, 2017
Amelia Urry, Harvey stirs up a toxic, industrial soup, Grist, Sept. one, 2017
Lydia O'Neal, Courtroom Rejects Environmental Groups' Attempt To Block EPA'due south Filibuster Of Chemicals Rule, International Business concern Times, Sept. i, 2017
Jessica Corbett, Analysis: Harvey Triggered Release of Nearly a Million Pounds of Toxic Air Pollutants, Mutual Dreams, Sept. ane, 2017
Lorraine Chow, Arkema Plant Explosion Sparks Criticism of Trump EPA Relaxing Chemical Safety Rules, EcoWatch, Sept. ane, 2017
Oliver Milman, 'Your eyes start itching': pollution soars in Houston after chemical manufacture leaks, The Guardian, Sept. 2, 2017
Steven Mufson, Harvey causes chemical companies to release ane million pounds of extra air pollutants, Washington Postal service / Texas Tribune, Sept. 4, 2017
Ariel Wittenberg, Agencies warn Texas residents about spills, sewer systems, E&Due east Publishing, Sept. v, 2017
Amy Goodman, Renée Feltz and Hany Massoud with Bryan Parras, Petro Metro: A Toxic Bout of Houston from Refineries to Superfund Sites in Wake of Harvey, Democracy Now!, Sept. 5, 2017
Hiroko Tabuchi, Loftier Levels of Carcinogen Institute in Houston Area Later on Harvey, New York Times, Sept. half-dozen, 2017
Troy Griggs, Andrew H. Lehren, Nadja Popovich, and Anjali Singhvi, More than xl Sites Released Hazardous Pollutants Because of Hurricane Harvey, New York Times, Sept. 6, 2017
Jay Root, In Harvey's wake, critics see big money behind lax petrochemical reporting, Texas Tribune, Sept. seven, 2017
Keri Blakinger and Matt Dempsey, Beginning responders sue Arkema for $1 1000000 following explosions at Crosby constitute, Chron.com, Sept. vii, 2017
Julie Dermansky, From Homes to Refineries, Finding Pollution and Loss in Harvey's Path, DeSmog, Sept. 8, 2017
Frank Bajak and Michelle Minkoff, Residents cough, rub eyes in Harvey pollution spike, Associated Press, Sept. 8, 2017
Jordan Blum, Magellan gasoline leak is biggest known spill of Harvey aftermath, Houston Chronicle, Sept. 11, 2017
Vann R. Newkirk II, The Looming Superfund Nightmare, The Atlantic, Sept. 12, 2017
Collin Eaton and Jordan Blum, Galena Park gasoline spill dwarfed other Harvey leaks, only stayed out of public eye for days, Houston Chronicle, Sept. thirteen, 2017
Mose Buchele, iii Means Texas Could Safeguard Confronting Toxic Emissions During The Side by side Major Tempest, KUT FM, Houston Public Media, Sept. 13, 2017
Brentin Mock, Zoned for Displacement, City Lab, Sept. thirteen, 2017
Kiah Collier, Lisa Vocal, and Al Shaw, EPA won't release benzene levels collected post-Harvey; private tests show elevated levels, ProPublica & Texas Tribune, Sept. xiv, 2017
Kristen Hays, CP Chem postal service-Harvey inspections proceed, no timeline for restart, Platts, Sept. xiv, 2017
Rebecca Hersher and David Schaper, Air Pollution From Industry Plagues Houston In Harvey's Wake, National Public Radio (NPR), Sept. xiv, 2017
Rye Druzin, CEO Joe Gorder called last three weeks "pretty vicious" for Valero, San Antonio Limited News, Sept. xiv, 2017
Spencer Starr, Hawkeye Ford Shale's large operators getting output back to pre-Harvey levels, Platts, Sept. fifteen, 2017
Emily Flitter and Richard Valdmanis, Oil and chemical spills from Hurricane Harvey big, but dwarfed by Katrina, Reuters, Sept. 15, 2017
Alexandra Berzon, Valero Houston Plant Underestimated Harvey Benzene Leak, Wall Street Journal, Sept. fifteen, 2017
Tsvetana Paraskova, Hurricane Harvey Oil, Chemical Spills Top 22,000 Barrels, Oil Price, Sept. xv, 2017
Emily Flitter, Valero underestimated Houston refinery leak during Harvey, Reuters, Sept. 15, 2017
Mark Manus, High levels of chemicals constitute in air effectually Houston refinery afterward EPA told residents not to worry, ThinkProgress, Sept. xv, 2017
Olivia Pulsinelli, Former Shell Oil president named head of Houston'due south Harvey recovery, Houston Business organisation Periodical, Sept. fifteen, 2017
Meagan Parrish, Oil And Chemical Spills Afterward Hurricane Harvey Vs. Katrina — Past The Numbers, Chem Info, Sept. 15, 2017
Ralph K.Thousand. Haurwitz, Hurricane Harvey'south pollution toll on air, h2o slowly comes into focus, Austin American-Statesman, Sept. 15, 2017
Doyin Oyeniyi, The Largest Harvey-Related Gasoline Spill Went Unknown for Weeks, Texas Monthly, Sept. 16, 2017
Jordan Blum, Private air quality monitoring detects high levels of pollution post-obit Harveys, Houston Chronicle, Sept. xvi, 2017
Jessica Summers and Barbara J. Powell, Far From the Texas Coast, Hurricane Harvey Hits Oil Refiners, Bloomberg, Sept. 18, 2017
Julie Dermansky, Why Is a Dump for Hurricane Harvey Debris Next to an African American Community?, DeSmog, October. nine, 2017
Tom DiChristopher, Exxon Mobil fires upwards huge new Texas plant just two months later on Harvey hit the Gulf Coast, CNBC, Oct. 17, 2017
Tsvetana Paraskova, Exxon Starts Production At New Refinery In Texas, Oil Toll, Oct. xviii, 2017
Tarika Powell, Hurricane Harvey Highlights Fossil Fuel and Petrochemical Loopholes, Sightline Institute, Oct. 18, 2017
Laura Blewitt, In 'Energy City' USA, Hurricane Harvey's Fury Is Still Lingering, Bloomberg, Oct. 19, 2017.
Alan Shields, INEOS hit by Hurricane Harvey hangover, Energy Voice, Oct. xix, 2017
Abby Martin and Mike Prysner, Empire Files: The Cede Zones of Hurricane Harvey, The Real News, Oct. 23, 2017
Rebecca Hersher, Digging In The Mud To See What Toxic Substances Were Spread By Hurricane Harvey, National Public Radio (NPR), October. 23, 2017
Flesh-eating bacteria from Harvey debris kills Texas man, CBS News / Associate Printing, October. 25, 2017

Workers in protective suits stand in the middle of oil covering Hurricane Harvey flood waters at a refinery in La Porte, Texas, more a week after the hurricane hit the surface area. The human being impacts of Hurricane Harvey take been staggering, and the greatest concern is for the people struggling in its backwash. This disaster makes clear once again that littoral Texas and the wider Gulf region are on the frontlines of body of water level rise and extreme weather heightened by climate change, as well every bit the toxic impacts from fossil fuel infrastructure.

METHODOLOGY:

Data collection began on September five, 2017, with aid from Athena Matyear. There were only 39 final reports filed at that time. This limits our data, as final reports replace the initial reports on the TCEQ website after being filed (out of 143 last reports). Thus, 39 initial reports filed by 26 distinct facilities are missing from our collection.

For comparison sake, we included the ability to swap between data from initial and concluding estimates of pollution reported to TCEQ. Users can run into which companies initially underestimated their air pollution, and which companies over-estimated the extent of pollution.

We included every incident reported to TCEQ Regions 10 (Beaumont), 12 (Houston) and fourteen (Corpus Christi) from Baronial 23, 2017, when many refineries began to shut down, to September 25, 2017, a month after Harvey made landfall. We likewise included data from other TCEQ regions when reports conspicuously indicated that the pollution was a consequence of hurricane Harvey.

As of October 24, 2017, not all terminal reports have been published. twenty terminal reports remain united nations-filed. Many of these reports are "opacity events," an industry term for smoke pollution at facilities, which are not measured in pounds and will non affect electric current totals.

We merged a few groups of chemicals for the sake of simplifying some of the information that is displayed. We consolidated various types of butanes, butenes, pentanes, pentenes, and xylenes, which were (infrequently) reported by companies with specific isomers or variations. We merged "xylene, mixed isomers" and "xylene-n" into "xylenes," every bit an example. We also combined nitrogen oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) to brandish every bit "Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)," as both chemicals have similar effects in terms of acid rain, smog germination, and homo health. All other chemicals are listed exactly as companies reported them. If in doubt, follow our sources to the TCEQ website and wait at the verbal entry past the company.

"Most Hazardous Chemicals"

With credit to a September one, 2017 report by Shaye Wolf at the Center for Biological Multifariousness, our "most hazardous chemicals" list is very like:

- - ane,3 Butadiene
  - Benzene
  - Ethylbenzene
  - Hexane (and Hexane, due north)
  - Hydrogen Sulfide
  - Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)
  - Sulfur Dioxide
  - Toluene
  - Xylenes

"Parent Company"

In many cases, the TCEQ reports filed by petrochemical and industrial facilities are credited to the company that owns or operates the facility, but not the ultimate parent company. To the best of our ability, we accept identified the ultimate parent company of each of the subsidiaries that filed reports.

"Source Report No."

Each TCEQ has a 6-digit number attributed to it. Adding this feature as a row or column of the database allows you lot to click on private cells and open upwardly the primary source data, and a link to the TCEQ page.

"Equipment Source of Contaminant"

Many of the facilities that were striking by Harvey are very large, and emitted air pollution from several distinct areas within the facility. The TCEQ reports specify which equpiment that chemicals were leaked, spilled, or flared from.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE Data:

Population demographics around specific industrial facilities was published in 2016 past the Political Economic system Research Establish (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. See PERI'due south methodology for "ecology justice ratios"which notes that "in 2014 in the U.S., the share of people living in poverty was 14.five% and the share of the population that identified equally Hispanic or nonwhite was 36.3 percent."

This information is displayed every bit "Population Living in Poverty (%)" and "Population People of Colour (%)." Information technology is simply applicable to specific facilities–for example, the data will not brandish as averages if you attempt to apply "Population People of Color" to the canton of Brazoria, or to all facilities endemic past ExxonMobil.

Some information was not bachelor, but for seven facilities without bachelor information, we were able to locate other facilities in the PERI database that are physically close (within a mile) of the facility without information. Here are the exact substitutions we used:

- - For the Citgo Corpus Christi refinery, PERI data from Koch Industries' Flint Hills West refinery
  - For the Kinder Morgan Pasadena Concluding, PERI data from the Petrobras Pasadena Refinery
  - For the Air Liquide facility in Pasadena, PERI data for the Baker Hughes Pasadena facility
  - For the Blue Cube Operations facility in Freeport, PERI data from the Dow Chemical plant in Freeport
  - For the INEOS establish in Pasadena, PERI data from BASF Pasadena
  - For the MPLX Javalina plant in Corpus Christi, PERI data from the closest Air Products facility in Corpus Christi.

And, for the Magellan Midstream facility in Galena Park, data was provided by the Union of Concerned Scientists and T.e.j.a.due south. 2016 report, "Double Jeopardy in Houston."

A flare burns at an oil refinery in Baytown, Texas more than a week after Hurricane Harvey ravaged the area. The human impacts of Hurricane Harvey have been staggering, and the greatest concern is for the people struggling in its aftermath. This disaster makes articulate in one case again that coastal Texas and the wider Gulf region are on the frontlines of sea level rise and extreme weather heightened by climatic change, as well as the toxic impacts from fossil fuel infrastructure.

SOURCE Data:

Our source spreadsheet is available for download, below.

Master sources directly from TCEQ is easy to access, via a popular-upward carte du jour, by clicking the any of the cells in the database while the "Source Report No." realm is included.

Greenpeace compiled air pollution reports submitted to the Texas Commission on Ecology Quality (TCEQ) that occurred during the Hurricane Harvey disaster. TCEQ reports submitted past petrochemical refineries, chemical plants, oil & gas compressor stations, terminals, and other industrial sites provide estimates of the type and amounts of chemicals released, in pounds. Data includes pollution from the shutdown and start-up process for many refineries and chemical plants, as well as releases due to concrete damage from Harvey.

This data is voluntarily reported by the facilities and companies. In that location were no official air monitoring efforts by state or federal officials during and later on hurricane Harvey, and thus, no way to verify data submitted to TCEQ.

Greenpeace's database does non include filings to the Texas Railroad Commission, the U.S. Environmental Protection Bureau (EPA), the U.Due south. Coast Baby-sit, or whatever other authorities agencies.

Data does not include estimates of chemicals released from Superfund sites, Brownfields, sewage and h2o treatment facilities, or other potential point-sources of air and water pollution reported later on the storm.

Connor Gibson

Connor Gibson is a one-time fellow member of Greenpeace's Investigations team. He focused on polluting industries, their front groups, and PR operatives, specially on the Koch Brothers.

Source: https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/research/hurricane-harvey-air-pollution-database/

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