Chevron Refinery Found to Pose Higher Cancer Risk for Richmond Residents
The Bay Area Air District has released a preliminary health assessment that found residents living near the Chevron refinery in Richmond face a higher risk of cancer and other diseases.
The assessment estimated that the refinery poses a maximum cancer risk of 37 in a million, which means that 37 additional people out of a million could develop cancer over a lifetime of exposure to the air pollution caused by the refinery. This is more than the district's threshold of 10 in a million.
The report stated that most of the cancer risk is due to benzo[a]pyrene, a pollutant that escapes through small leaks at pipe fittings and storage tanks, while short-term health risks are mostly because of benzene from the refinery's wastewater treatment system.
Chevron spokesperson Ross Allen said the district's analysis acknowledges that the assumptions driving most of its cancer-risk estimate may overstate actual refinery emissions. Allen added that Chevron agrees with this assessment and has already found issues with the report, including equipment no longer operating and assumptions not reflecting actual refinery conditions.