Local refineries top list of worst polluters

Here's another of those things that'll make us all proud to be Houstonians: According to an environmental research group, three of the five most-polluting U.S. refineries are in the Houston area. We guess our old line to cover for our pollution problem — "That's the smell of money!" — won't quite cut it anymore.

According to the Enrivonmental Integrity Project, BP's Texas City refinery, Exxon Mobil's refinery in Baytown and the Lyondell-Citgo plant in Houston are numbers 1, 2 and 5, respectively, in the list of top U.S. polluters. The BP Texas City refinery really takes the prize, though, if you want to put it that way: The EIP reports that the plant pumps out nearly 2.1 million pounds of carcinogenic emissions every year — Exxon's Baytown refinery, which came in second, produces just 173,730 pounds of carcinogens a year (though the report notes that there may be questions about the way many refineries report their emissions). Statewide, three other refineries make the top 10 list: the Flint Hills plant in Corpus Christi, La Gloria in Tyler and the Valero refinery in Corpus. Not counting the BP plant, the other top polluters on the list account for nearly a third of carcinogens produced by all U.S. refineries, but only for 15 percent of the country's refining capacity, the EIP reports. (Find the complete refinery report at the EIP's website.)

The ranking is interesting in itself, but even more so in light of recent events at City Hall surrounding Mayor Bill White's attempt to push ahead with city regulation of polluters. And there's the thing about the possible link between Ship Channel emissions and cancer, the news that parts of the Houston area will fall way short of the federal clean-air deadline, the link between pollution and heart disease — it's almost enough to make you want to live inside a bubble, isn't it?