Folks who aren't particularly fond of the oil and gas industry and oil companies in particular are causing quite a stir over EPA's recent approval of a new boat fuel by Chevron. The new fuel, derived from discarded plastic, is so toxic that everyone exposed to it over the course of a lifetime would be expected to get cancer - that's according to calculations made by investigative reporters from ProPublica from data in an EPA risk assessment. Their calculated risk was 1.3:1 - basically anyone exposed to it - a number ProPublica claims was confirmed by EPA.
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| Photo: © Frank J. Maccioli |
EPA had earlier refused to provide the risk assessment to reporters from ProPublica and another news site, The Guardian. The document was not obtained until ProPublica made a formal request through the federal Freedom of Information Act.
EPA's risk assessment, which was also done to review some other new fuel additives, including jet fuel (which apparently would cause cancer in 1 of 4 people exposed), typically uses extreme exposure scenarios to arrive at a risk number. However, as noted in this article, EPA's Risk Assessment Guidelines for Carcinogens generally does not approve things that result in a risk of more than 1 cancer death in 1 million exposures, let alone a 1 in 4 risk, or, as it worked out for the boat fuel additive, a 1.3 in 1 risk!
So what do you think, is this much ado about nothing or a serious threat to the well being of folks who operate boats and/or live near marinas?
