In the devastating wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, parts of the East Coast were left not only demolished, but polluted. Wastewater treatment plants lost power and discharged 11 billion gallons of sewage into receiving waters. The toxic Gowanus Canal—a Superfund site—flooded and overflowed into people’s homes, covering people and possessions in what one victim called a “greasy, oily slick.” Homeowners’ personal heating oil tanks broke apart and oozed fuel into the soil.

That was Sandy, a Category 1 hurricane. Now, a Category 3 hurricane is heading straight toward Southeast Texas, the heart of the American petrochemical industry. It’s the nightmare situation Roy Scranton warned about in his 2016 op-ed for the New York Times, titled “When the Next Hurricane Hits Texas.” If a storm rips through the region, it will hit an area that includes roughly one third of the country’s known oil and natural gas reserves. And there’s more: “The refineries and plants encircling Galveston Bay are responsible for roughly 25 percent of the United States’s petroleum refining, more than 44 percent of its ethylene production, 40 percent of its specialty chemical feed stock and more than half of its jet fuel.”

A powerful hurricane could disrupt oil and chemical production, Scranton wrote, and in turn domestic and world markets. On Thursday, oil prices were already going haywire as refineries in Corpus Christi shut down ahead of Harvey. That’s a real concern, but it’s not the only reason we should be watching the refineries. There is a huge environmental risk to this storm. If the “biblical event” predicted materializes in this densely packed industrial area, “it may impact the Gulf Coast oil refineries and chemical plants,” said Judith Enck, who served as administrator for EPA’s Region 2 during Hurricane Sandy. “I am extremely concerned about the path of Hurricane Harvey.”

Oil and chemical companies are concerned too. LyondellBassell, one of the largest chemical and refining companies, said in a statement that it is preparing for “potential flooding” of its many Houston-area sites. Anadarko Petroleum and ExxonMobil have started evacuating workers from the region’s offshore oil drilling platforms, which together spilled a total of 741,000 gallons of oil during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. One analyst told industry publication ICIS that five or six refineries could be directly hit by the storm.





Environmental advocates are also worried that Harvey will create long-term public health problems due to accidental toxic substance releases, and not just from refineries and power plants. In the 30 counties where a disaster has been declared, there are dozens of Superfund sites, many of which are essentially waste pits containing harmful chemicals. The San Jacinto River Waste Pits, for example, contain carcinogenic dioxins, which are linked to birth defects. Advocates also rightly point out that communities living closest to all these sites—both the Superfunds and the refineries—are disproportionately low-income and minority. “This is an environmental justice issue,” Enck said.