The environmental organization Green Guide Institute branded Eugene the greenest city in the U.S. this year based on its air quality.
But despite the ranking, Lane County’s air contains abnormally high levels of a particular toxin, one that has at least one Oregon senator worried that the government’s environmental health agency does not regulate – benzene.
Benzene, a cancer-causing chemical found in petroleum, is primarily emitted from car tailpipes, although any type of combustion leaks the toxin.
Gas used in Lane County and other parts of the Northwest contains two percent more benzene than the national average, said Bruce Hope, toxologist for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Because of higher levels in gas, Northwest air contains three- to four-times the amount of toxin compared to Northeast states, he said.
Short-term effects of benzene include dizziness and eye and skin irritations, while long-term exposure affects a body’s red-blood cells and increases the risk of leukemia, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA, which oversees air quality, classifies benzene as a carcinogen and has proposed cutting the average benzene production by U.S. petroleum refineries by more than a third. But some environmental advocates and politicians think the EPA has not gone far enough.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., criticized the EPA’s benzene policy Thursday on the banks of the Willamette River in Portland, where residents sometimes breathe more than 40 times the amount of benzene considered safe long-term. He said the agency has not sufficiently reduced the amount of benzene in Northwest oil.
Still, people breathing air in Lane County only have a 1 in 100,000 chance to develop cancer from benzene in their lifetime.
Local air quality officials agree, however, the benzene needs to be eliminated – now.
“It’s particularly important as a potent carcinogen,” Hope said.
Petroleum used in Eugene comes from Alaskan refineries whose crude oil-producing technology is older than that of refineries elsewhere in the nation.
Other benzene enters the air as “fugitive emissions” emitted when service station attendants pump gas, Hope said.
The EPA has placed regulations on refineries that contribute ozone gases by making them switch to reformulated, cleaner gasoline. Refineries benefit from the lower levels of air toxins, including benzene, said Merlyn Hough, director of Lane Regional Air Protection Agency.
The EPA also proposed earlier this year to cut the average benzene produced by refineries, excluding those in the Northwest, by 36 percent starting in 2011. Under the deal, however, Alaska refineries could continue to produce crude oil and buy credits from refineries producing less benzene instead of buying costly equipment to reduce the toxin.
Bob Slaughter, president of the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, said in written testimony to Congress on the issue that additional regulations may be unnecessary.
“After all, why add substantial additional burdens on refiners when the objective of reducing fuel blends will most likely be met in a more rational way in the coming years?” he wrote in June.
Portland vehicles spew more of the invisible background gas into the air because the city has a higher volume of traffic. Residents of Multnomah County have a 26 in 1 million chance to develop serious health risks, Hope said.
“People tend to mess up their environment,” he added. The more people that live in an area, the more pollution will occur, he said.
LRAPA, the county’s air quality monitor, has measured benzene for the last five years at its Amazon Park data-collection site in South Eugene.
Each year since 2002, the chemical has surpassed the National Air Toxics Assessment’s benchmarks in Lane County. LRAPA recorded the highest amount of benzene in 2005.
Environmental officials have previously focused on the health concerns related to smoke and smog, but they are now switching their attention to air toxins, Hough said.
“Air toxins, in general, are newcomers on the scene,” he said. “This is our opportunity.”
Local air quality overseers lack the authority to regulate fuels and new vehicles as California does, Hough said. He described the Golden State as the “cutting edge” for regulating air pollutants because its sprawling growth is leading to more cars and more pollution.
The University is working on reducing the amount of benzene used in campus laboratories, said Paul Engelking, University chemistry professor.
Benzene itself is not a strong threat, but its oxidized form is, said Engelking, who sits on LRAPA’s advisory board.
“It’s the old benzene that’s sitting in the environment,” he said.
Hope, who witnessed Wyden’s recent Portland speech, said “it was a shock to folks” to hear the senator say “we are a central sacrifice zone” for the EPA.
The EPA estimates tobacco, which contains benzene, accounts for nearly half of the national exposure.
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