New EPA regulations stirring debate

WASHINGTON — Oil refineries and petrochemical plants are facing a fresh crackdown on the handling of hazardous materials, as the Biden administration seeks to carry through on reforms begun by the Obama administration a decade ago following the explosion of a fertilizer plant in the Central Texas town of West.

Under new standards finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency last month, refineries, chemical facilities and coal processing units must soon start submitting additional reports analyzing the risk of the hazardous materials they keep on-site and whether it makes sense to replace those materials or adjust their operations to make them less dangerous.

Facilities — including those along the Houston Ship Channel — which are within a mile of another, have had recent accidents or handle hydrofluoric acid, which is used in the production of gasoline and other products, must submit an additional report showing they took steps to make their operation less risky.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, filed legislation late last week seeking to block the new regulation, calling it an attempt to eliminate the use of hydrofluoric acid.

“Yet again, EPA is creating a costly ‘solution’ for a problem that doesn’t exist,” he said. “Why? Because the radical environmentalists of this administration believe modern science and civilization are a scourge, not a benefit.”

The change to how companies report through the EPA’s Risk Management Program, created in the mid-1990s, comes as the EPA seeks to improve air and water quality and reduce the risk of dangerous explosions and fires in areas that have historically housed the nation’s petrochemical infrastructure.

In announcing the new rule last month, EPA described its requirements as “reducing the frequency of chemical releases and their adverse effects” and “further protecting vulnerable communities from chemical accidents.” Similar rules enacted during the Obama administration were rolled back under the Trump administration in 2019.

That same year, the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery in Pennsylvania exploded after a leak of hydrofluoric acid. A report by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, an independent federal agency, found hydrofluoric acid to be “one of the eight most hazardous chemicals regulated by the EPA Risk Management Program” and recommended EPA evaluate whether it required greater regulation.

“Hydrofluoric acid needs to be safely managed to keep it from triggering catastrophic accidents,” Eric Schaeffer, executive director of the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project, said. “How many explosions and Chemical Safety Board investigations will it take to dampen Congressman Crenshaw’s enthusiasm for this extremely hazardous material?”

The new regulations are expected to cost industry more than $250 million in annual compliance costs, according to EPA, more than three times what was estimated under an initial version of the regulation proposed last year.

Industry groups are already signaling their intention to sue the EPA, arguing new regulations should be focused on operations with troubled track records and not facilities at large.

“Rather than taking a targeted and data-driven approach to enhancing safety, EPA made sweeping changes that remove important safeguards on sensitive chemical information and impose unworkable mandates on facilities that provide vital contributions to critical sectors, including food production, water purification and energy production,” Ryan Jackson, vice president of federal affairs at the American Chemistry Council, said in a statement.