How the Petrochemical Industry is Gaslighting Southeast Texas

Yvette Arellano and their team had knocked on at least 180 doors in Manchester, Texas. A public hearing was coming up on December 12, 2022, for a permit renewal of oil giant Valero Energy Partners’ tank hub in Manchester, and Arellano, director of the Houston-based environmental justice organization Fenceline Watch, wanted to make sure residents had a chance to speak up. 

The community, a low-income, majority Spanish-speaking neighborhood in Houston’s East End, sits beneath two highways, a slew of industrial projects along the Houston Ship Channel, and more than a dozen oil and petrochemical facilities — including Valero’s Houston Refinery. During Hurricane Harvey, a submerged roof of a storage tank at the refinery released high concentrations of carcinogenic benzene and other pollutants for 11 days. As floodwaters rose and eventually blocked evacuation routes, the company did nothing to warn the public of the hazardous chemicals spewing into their air, Arellano said, and "significantly underestimated" the leak, according to the EPA. Even state and local officials who visited the refinery during the release reported feeling sick.