The oil and gas industry in Texas is largely responsible for doubling the amount of illegal air pollution in the state last year, according to a report released Wednesday. The Texas Petroleum Chemicals (TPC) plant in Port Neches—the same facility that caught fire last month, injuring three and prompting multi-day evacuations—was listed as a major emitter of butadiene, a known human carcinogen. That and other emissions, innocuously referred to as “upset events,” lead to the premature deaths of 42 Texans and $241 million in health care costs each year.
Last year, approximately 270 companies, including Chevron, Dow Chemical, and ExxonMobil, reported 4,590 unauthorized emissions incidents in the state, according to the report from advocacy group Environment Texas. Those resulted in 135 million pounds of illegal air pollution, double the amount emitted in 2017. Contaminants spewed into the sky include human carcinogens butadiene and benzene; smog-forming nitrogen oxides; and particulate matter, which can cause heart attacks, strokes, and congestive heart failure.
The biggest release occurred on August 29, 2018, when the Beaumont Gas to Gasoline Plant belched 53 million pounds of carbon dioxide over five days. The event made up the lion’s share of the 63.9 million pounds of air pollution in the Beaumont region, the most polluted area in Texas that year. The Midland region, which is the locus of the state’s fracking boom, saw 39.5 million pounds of air pollution, the second most in the state.
