According to the Environmental Integrity Group (EIP), nine oil refineries in the United States account for 15 percent of the refining capacity but emit nearly a third of the total carcinogenic pollution emissions that are reported by the oil industry.

Eric Schaeffer, the group’s director, said that EIP gathered data from the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) report on the EPA’s website. TRI reports are available to the public and contain data supplied from industry.

“What we are really seeing here are the shortcomings in the honor system for reporting these emissions. Overall level of emissions of carcinogens declined between 1999 and 2004, but there were big jumps at some refineries and inconsistency in the quality and level of reporting at others. EPA should stop taking industry self-reporting at face value, and investigate whether these emissions are being accurately reported as the law requires,” said Schaeffer.

The group issued a report titled, Refined Hazard: Carcinogenic Air Pollution from America’s Oil Refineries and named the 10 refineries they claimed emitted the most carcinogenic pollutants. There were six plants in Texas, three in Louisiana and one in Pennsylvania.

To download and read the report, visit www.environmentalintegrity.org.