Stand Tall For America

Reducing Benzene in our Air

Benzene causes leukemia.  And for years, some residents of the Pacific Northwest have suffered from dangerously high benzene levels in our air - primarily from high-benzene gasoline.

When the oil companies won the right from the Bush Administration to continue producing high-benzene gasoline for the Pacific Northwest, Senator Wyden stood tall for Oregon and leaned hard on the EPA to implement rules that will reduce benzene in our gasoline and in our air.  Recently, the EPA buckled to that pressure.

Here's what happened...

Benzene levels revealed.

In October 2006, the Oregonian newspaper reported on benzene levels in Oregon: 

Benzene, a potent chemical that causes cancer and blood disorders, is not unusual in major cities with lots of vehicles. But in Portland, it's worse. That's because the gasoline we put in our cars, pickups and SUVs is dirtier.  It holds nearly twice as much benzene as the national average…

The reason? The federal government requires cleaner gasoline elsewhere—it makes no such requirement in the Northwest because our skies are considered too clean to trigger regulation. So vehicles in Oregon and Washington, fueled by gasoline made from benzene-rich Alaskan oil, vent about 50 percent more toxic compounds into the air per mile than cars in East Coast and Southern states, data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show.

And worst of all, the EPA's plan to regulate benzene would have made the Northwest an "environmental sacrifice zone": 

Although the EPA now proposes new rules to reduce benzene in gasoline nationally, it would allow gasoline here to remain the dirtiest in the country and pre-empt Oregon from adopting tougher limits of its own—because states usually cannot override a federal rule. ... 

Pressured by lawsuits, the EPA proposed a new national rule limiting benzene in gasoline starting in 2011. But the limit would be a national average—some refineries could produce gasoline with more, and others with less. ... 

But the EPA predicts that refineries in the Northwest would rely on the trading system to avoid making as many improvements. Although benzene levels in Northwest gasoline would drop, they would remain the highest in the nation, the EPA predicts.

The Centers for Disease Control has identified benzene as a cause of leukemia:

Long-term exposure to high levels of benzene in the air can cause leukemia, particularly acute myelogenous leukemia, often referred to as AML. This is a cancer of the blood-forming organs.

Senator Wyden stepped in.

In November 2006, Senator Wyden decided to get the attention of the EPA.  He held a news conference in one of the worst benzene zones in Oregon—the Eastbank Esplanade—where thousands of joggers, cyclists, and families pass every day.  He announced a "hold" on the nomination of a new Bush appointee to be the EPA's General Counsel.

Here's the report from Oregon Public Broadcasting: 

Senator Ron Wyden says the [EPA] proposal won't help Oregon. 

Ron Wyden: "The Environmental Protection Agency must set a standard that protects the people of the Pacific Northwest and not oil company profits. It is my plan when Congress comes back for the lame duck session, to put a public hold on the Bush Administration's nominee to be the general counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency, Roger Martella."

When a Senator puts a hold on a nominee it amounts to a silent filibuster. It would take 60 votes to release the hold. Wyden says this is a case where he's willing to use his power of "the hold."

Ron Wyden: "It is unacceptable to have a regulatory philosophy that creates a federal environmental protection standard for Americans where some get higher levels of protections, others get lower levels of protection and we essentially leave it up to the industry that is supposed to be regulated to decide which Americans get which level of protection."

Read the Oregonian editorial: "Wyden to the rescue over benzene levels."

The EPA reverses its position.

In January 2007, the Environmental Protection Agency did the right thing - and changed their plan.  The previously-proposed cap-and-trade system will be in effect in January 2011, and the new national maximum will arrive 18 months later. 

Benzene levels in Oregon and Washington will drop to about one-third of existing levels—and it'll only cost about one cent per gallon of gasoline. 

As Senator Wyden said: 

"Today the EPA acknowledged that folks in the Northwest have the same right to breathe clean air as folks in other parts of the country," Wyden said. "I’m very pleased the EPA decided not to turn the Northwest into an environmental sacrifice zone, but instead put in place a sensible nationwide standard that sets a maximum amount of benzene that can be in gasoline."

And that's what happens when you Stand Tall for Oregon.