The use of an oil refinery waste product, petroleum coke, as an ingredient in metals and other products releases large amounts of health-damaging air pollutants, often in disadvantaged communities. The facilities where petcoke is processed are leading sources of pollution wherever they are located, including in Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Mississippi, and Washington.
Most of the petcoke processing plants in the U.S. were built between 1935 and 1983 and most operators have refused to install modern pollution controls. The advanced age of the plants and EPA’s failure to regulate the petcoke processing industry has helped them evade key provisions of the Clean Air and Clean Water acts and operate with weak pollution limits.
