“For example, did you know the oil refinery safety statutes which apply to refineries in the Houston area do not apply to the refinery in this town?”
“I did not know that.”
“Well they don’t, and here’s why. There are only four-thousand people living in the shadow of our PetroPlex refinery, whereas in Houston and the surrounding areas, there are millions. The law dictates that more safety measures are required in places of higher population. In other words, the law says that the life of somebody who lives in Houston is more valuable than your life or mine. And all because some bigshot oil lobbyist funded some local representative’s campaign in exchange for a vote to relax regulation in the area.”
“You can’t prove that.”
“Maybe not, but it wouldn’t shock me if Dr. Schaeffer could.”
“So what you’re saying is that it’s okay to bend the rules in this case because PetroPlex bent them to start with?”
I took a deep breath. “It wouldn’t be bending the rules. It would be returning to me what is mine. I’m saying I can help you in return. I’m saying we can help each other. Do you really feel like your life is worth less than that of someone who lives in Houston? Do you really believe your value is dictated by your geographic location? Help me show PetroPlex that your life matters, too.”
Nash laughed—so not the reaction I was hoping for. “I can see how you’d be a threat in front of a jury. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m saying that two wrongs don’t make a right, so I can’t break protocol and let you in. Meanwhile, if you have a problem with the current legislation, make sure you vote for someone who hasn’t taken campaign contributions from Big Oil in the next election. That’s how you right that wrong.”
“Right,” I said sarcastically. “Because it’s that easy. Listen up, because I’m about to tell you how the system really works.”
Nash raised his eyebrows.
“It’s like this. Crude oil and gasoline contain dangerous hydrocarbons like benzene. The government has known that benzene causes cancer since about 1900, and the EPA has had it listed as a known human carcinogen for over thirty years. It is a Class A carcinogen, which is the most toxic designation the EPA hands out. It means we know benzene causes cancer. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.”
“Okay,” Nash said. “It’s not like anybody thinks oil is actually healthy to be around. This is not news.”
I ignored him and continued. “Benzene is so toxic that if you filled up one measuring cup and let it evaporate in a football stadium, ambient air levels would still be 3.3 times higher than the OSHA safe-air standard, and 6.6 times the NIOSH standard. Think about that for a minute. A single cup of benzene is enough to expose everyone in a football stadium to air that is six times more toxic than the legal limit. But a cup of benzene is nothing. Benzene is everywhere. This stuff is a natural part of crude oil and gasoline, and it’s also found in all oil refinery waste products, which are rarely disposed of properly.”
Our waiter arrived with the fajitas. I inhaled the scent of char-grilled bliss and stuffed my face with the meaty goodness.
“In fact,” I said, not even caring that I was talking with my mouth full, “benzene makes up 1% of crude oil and accounts for up to 5% of gasoline vapors, which means you can also essentially poison everybody who is sitting in a football field with only six gallons of unsealed crude oil, or one and a half gallons of an uncorked bottle of gasoline. And yet, Corpus Christi, the U.S. City with more oil refineries than any other city except for Los Angeles, dumped seventy tons of benzene in 2007 alone. Seventy tons! That’s way more than a single cup.”
Nash’s eyes went wide as he processed those numbers. Clearly this was news to him. “Seventy tons. . .” Nash’s gaze went to the ceiling as he did some quick mental math. “That’s. . . what? Almost 18,000 gallons, assuming a gallon of benzene is roughly equivalent to a gallon of water?”
“Or if you break that down even further into cups,” I said, “enough to expose three-hundred-thousand football stadiums full of people to toxic air. Maybe my math is not perfect, but you get the idea. That’s also the equivalent of benzene exposure you’d see