During February’s Freeze in Texas, Refineries and Petrochemical Plants Released Almost 4 Million Pounds of Extra Pollutants
The companies mounted their standard “affirmative defense,†and environmentalists doubt Texas regulators will hold them accountable. Communities of color around Houston were disproportionately impacted.
By Aman Azhar
March 15, 2021
For Vicki Cruz, a social worker who lives in the Magnolia Park section of Houston, her health situation couldn’t have gotten a whole lot worse since she came down with Covid-19 over Christmas.
And then it did, when a hard freeze and snowstorm hit Texas last month and the state’s oil refineries and petrochemical plants released almost 4 million pounds of extra pollution into the air, with nearly one-fifth of the load fouling the Houston region, according to estimates by the nonprofits Air Alliance Houston, Environment Texas and the Environmental Defense Fund.
The pollutants included human carcinogens like benzene and other toxic chemicals known to cause all sorts and health problems like asthma.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15032021/texas-freeze-petrochemical-refineries-houston/
