Mobil Oil Texas

The ExxonMobil refinery in Baytown, Texas, is the country's largest refinery. In 1919, the refinery was founded and operated by the Humble Oil Company. Expansions have occurred throughout the years; most notably, the plant was expanded without the US federal government and Environmental Protection Agency being contacted. Currently, the Baytown refinery is located on 3,400 acres of land near Houston, employs more than 4,000 people (2,200 of whom are employed by ExxonMobil) and has a capacity of more than 570,000 barrels per calendar day.

Baytown Refinery Known for High Levels of Pollution

Failure to notify the EPA and the federal government by ExxonMobil when the Baytown Refinery expanded in the 1980s was problematic for many reasons - not the least of which is the facility's record for pollution.

In 1997, for example - three years before the EPA was made aware of the plant's expansion - the Baytown Refinery was cited by the state of Texas for a number of pollution violations. The plant was the worst offender, identified as the number one source of air pollutant emissions in the state. The Baytown Refinery was also the worst offender with regard to sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide emissions. Additionally, the plant was among the top five offenders for both volatile organic compound emissions and for nitrogen oxide air pollution emissions.

Despite numerous opportunities to reduce emissions and pollution, in 2009, the Baytown Refinery was fined for 23 separate instances. This earned it the dubious honor of being the third-most fined Texas polluter for the year.

Asbestos and the ExxonMobil Refinery in Baytown, Texas

In most of the 1900s, the mineral called asbestos was chosen as a building material in cases where fire or temperature extremes were a risk. As a result, it was usual for oil refineries like the ExxonMobil refinery in Baytown, Texas, to be built with materials that contained asbestos. Along with being non-flammable as well as temperature-resistant, certain kinds of asbestos are also particularly resistant to reactive chemicals. In light of the type of work that occurs at oil refineries, asbestos, therefore, appeared not only in plant structures, but also in safety garments, coating materials and bench and counter tops. Asbestos, however, had a major downside that was not understood or sometimes deliberately ignored: serious and often fatal diseases were found to be the result of exposure to asbestos.

Generally, amosite was the kind of asbestos used. Amosite is one of the amphibole varieties of the asbestos family of minerals and is commonly thought to be more prone to cause disease than the serpentine form. This amosite, in the form of asbestos-containing transite, appeared in oil refineries and laboratories across the United States for many years before being outlawed for construction purposes in the 1970s.

Asbestos transite had properties similar to cement; it could be molded into working surfaces, sprayed onto ductwork and pipes and laminated. As a rule, new items formed from transite were considered safe because the asbestos particles were encapsulated in the transite. Microscopic fibers of asbestos are released into the air, however, as transite with asbestos containing material (ACM) gets older and becomes prone to crumbling. Asbestos when it is in this state is considered friable, a term used to describe material that is easily pulverized. The insulation lining of laboratory and chemical plant kilns also frequently were fabricated with friable asbestos.

Why Is Friable Asbestos Bad?

When friable, asbestos fibers are easily released into the air. Medical conditions like asbestosis and cancer are known to result from breathing asbestos. Mesothelioma, a rare and all too often deadly cancer affecting the mesothelium (the lining between the lungs and the pleural cavity), has been shown to be linked with inhaling asbestos. Peritoneal and pericardial mesothelioma are linked to ingesting asbestos fibers, which can occur if the microscopic particles become airborne and land on food or in beverages.

Increased pressure from the press and activist groups resulted in laws regulating how to use asbestos. Asbestos use was much more common, however, when the ExxonMobil refinery in Baytown was constructed. Any asbestos that remains from that time may yet pose a health hazard if care is not taken during remodeling jobs.

The Time Bomb

Asbestos-related diseases, as opposed to typical workplace injuries, which are easily observed and known about immediately following the causing incident, can take ten, twenty, or even thirty years to appear. When a former worker begins developing signs such as pain in the chest and dyspnea (i.e., shortness of breath), his or her doctor might not at first identify asbestos as a cause, leading to delays in diagnosis. People who worked at or spent much time near oil refineries such as the ExxonMobil Baytown refinery should ask their doctors for a mesothelioma treatment guide. In addition, all those who shared homes with these people are also at risk; unless effective decontamination protocols, such as the use of workplace-only clothing and on-site showers, were enforced, it was common for people to bring home particles of asbestos on their skin, in their hair, or on their clothes. In cases where the disease is caught early there is a chance it can be treated; early diagnosis is crucial as there is no mesothelioma cure.

Sources

Absolute Astronomy - Baytown Refinery Info
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Baytown_Refinery

ExxonMobil - Baytown Refinery Fact Sheet
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:OMsU3z5Qny4J:www.exxonmobil.com/NA-English/files/Baytown_Complex_Fact_Sheet.pdf+baytown+refinery&hl=en&gl=us&sig=AHIEtbQjuIta4QOzqyGZG-5178y269mVCw

My San Antonio - Total, ExxonMobil Most Fined Polluters in Texas
http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/local/Total_Exxon_Mobil_most_fined_polluters_in_Texas.html

Toxic Texas - Mobil Oil's Ranking Among 30 Texas Refineries
http://www.txpeer.org/toxictour/mobile_ranking.html

University of Wisconsin - Asbestos Containing Material (ACM) - Laboratories and Shops
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/EHSRM/ASB/acmimages3.html

University of Wisconsin - Asbestos Disposal
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/EHSRM/HAZEXCEPTIONS/a.html