Rules for easier breathing

If the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopts new emission standards for oil refineries, communities in California and across the nation would be spared exposure to toxic pollution.

The newly proposed standards, expected to be finalized next spring, would improve monitoring and combustion efficiency requirements when waste gas is burned in a process called flaring, according to California News Service.

The proposal comes after Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project filed a lawsuit on behalf of groups in California, Louisiana and Texas. One of the groups involved in the lawsuit has monitored flaring at four refineries within 5 miles of Wilmington from 2000 to 2011, maintaining that each site has increased flaring emissions every year for the past decade.

Long-term exposure to benzene, one of the pollutants emitted by refineries, has been linked to cancer, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.