Refineries in Texas
There are two side to this story: Positives and Negatives
Today, refineries continue to be a controversial issue since many think they are causing a large amount of pollution and have affected the health of several people.
According to the United States Energy Information Administration, there are a total of 135 refineries in the U.S.
With 29 operating refineries, Texas is considered to have more oil refineries than any other state in the country. Most are located near the Gulf of Mexico and a lot of them can be found close to neighborhoods, schools, restaurants and banks.
Karina Ortiz is a mother of two children who has lived near refineries for over 25 years, because of this she has had experience with smells, alarms, traffic, and dangers of living so close to a refinery.
Ortiz spends most of her days taking her kids to her neighborhood park which happens to be located near a refinery.
“They’re exposed almost every day because we come to the park a lot.”
Ortiz says that clouds of smoke are released from the refineries every day which cause so much noise that it makes the windows from her house shake, and it scares her children.
Living in Texas and so close to a refinery it is not uncommon to be worried about the possible dangers that can occur.
“They can explode at any time.”
These businesses or companies will always be considered hazardous facilities by locals and even by the people that are in the industry, they come with so much danger and that is known by everyone.
“I do not feel safe living near a chemical plant,” Ortiz said, “I have been affected because I breathe in those toxic fumes that are released from the plant every time I step outside of my home.”
There will always be a chance of an explosion, fire, even toxic leaks; if anything like that were to happen there is an alarm that goes off to notify everyone even the surrounding communities of the potential danger.
The truth is these industries are important to our economy. Not only because they provide thousands of job opportunities, but also because refineries transform crude oil which in turn can produce more useful products for human use.
Salvador Mendoza has worked in refineries for over 29 years, he’s worked for different companies and has held different positions from maintenance to a boilermaker.
Mendoza says that he likes his job, and that although sometimes work can be slow or there could be layoffs most of the time he is grateful for the hours he is able to put in.
“Sometimes I work 7 days or sometimes 5–10.”
It takes many people to make a chemical plant run smoothly every single day, however one mistake can lead to a potentially dangerous situation for the environment and for the communities that surround them.
Victor Espinosa is a Safety Supervisor for a refinery in Houston, he takes pride in his career saying that it has helped him build a stable future for himself and his family.
The refinery industry is one of the most dangerous to work in, employees have to be in high towers, operate heavy machinery, be near toxic or potentially dangerous chemicals and these are just to name a few.
These places can be threatening but employees attend meetings every day to be up to date on all safety procedures,” Espinosa said “They are also trained to be safe and know what steps to take in case something bad were to happen.”
As chemical plants and refineries continue to grow, different factors come into effect when deciding where to build them, many believe that they are mostly built near lower-income neighborhoods,but others have a different opinion.
Ortiz said that plants are not built near high-income neighborhoods they build them near the people that cannot fight back.
Espinosa said, where they choose to build them is a matter of where they pay the less amount of taxes and have easy access to freeways or vast bodies of water for fast and easy transportation.
“Where they build them is just a coincidence,they take so many different things into consideration when choosing a location for these types of places.”
Until there is a better way to produce the oil, gas, food, and chemicals that are created in these plants to make everyone happy. There will always be debates on how to make this business secure.
