I bike up to the site in minus twelve windchill. The cold makes the water vapour coming from The International Group's refinery appear like thick clouds, billowing across the road and out of valves at the edge of the tank farms on the far left and right. I imagine these clouds to represent the roughly 120 tonnes of Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOCs) released into the air every year by the refinery reported to Toronto's Chem Trac program, a public right to know initiative supposed to promote accountability in local industry by annual reporting of air toxics. It is one of only ten facilities in the entire Greater Toronto Area which release more than 100 tonnes of TVOCs per year. The Atmotube personal air monitor detects hardly any of these, notifying me that the air score is 93 despite the fact I am next to a tank farm- far better and a large contrast to all indoor levels I have measured during the winter. I wonder what the reading would be in the summer, at the temperature VOCs are more likely to react, and how it would affect the hundreds of residents who live within 50-500meters of the site, possibly combining with other VOCs in the indoor air of homes through open windows to create toxicant filled atmospheres. The surrounding neighbourhoods are subdivisions which have been built long after the crude oil refinery.
The refinery makes waxes which include petroleum wax, which is used in industries such as candles, tire and rubber products, adhesives, and personal care products. The wax releases VOCs such as benzene and toluene when burnt, and is made from petroleum. It also makes petrolatum, used in cosmetics and food, which can be contaminated by aromatic hydrocarbons during the refining process. Petrolatum is classified as a carcinogen by the EU, and can only be used in cosmetics if its refining history is known. It has no restrictions in the US or Canada.
I bike up to the site in minus twelve windchill. The cold makes the water vapour coming from The International Group's refinery appear like thick clouds, billowing across the road and out of valves at the edge of the tank farms on the far left and right. I imagine these clouds to represent the roughly 120 tonnes of Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOCs) released into the air every year by the refinery reported to Toronto's Chem Trac program, a public right to know initiative supposed to promote accountability in local industry by annual reporting of air toxics. It is one of only ten facilities in the entire Greater Toronto Area which release more than 100 tonnes of TVOCs per year. The Atmotube personal air monitor detects hardly any of these, notifying me that the air score is 93 despite the fact I am next to a tank farm- far better and a large contrast to all indoor levels I have measured during the winter. I wonder what the reading would be in the summer, at the temperature VOCs are more likely to react, and how it would affect the hundreds of residents who live within 50-500meters of the site, possibly combining with other VOCs in the indoor air of homes through open windows to create toxicant filled atmospheres. The surrounding neighbourhoods are subdivisions which have been built long after the crude oil refinery.
The refinery makes waxes which include petroleum wax, which is used in industries such as candles, tire and rubber products, adhesives, and personal care products. The wax releases VOCs such as benzene and toluene when burnt, and is made from petroleum. It also makes petrolatum, used in cosmetics and food, which can be contaminated by aromatic hydrocarbons during the refining process. Petrolatum is classified as a carcinogen by the EU, and can only be used in cosmetics if its refining history is known. It has no restrictions in the US or Canada.