Exxon, Valero Face New Curbs on Cancer-Causing Gases

(Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama is considering new curbs on U.S. oil refineries whose gas emissions pose a cancer risk to hundreds of thousands of people living near the plants, setting up a potential conflict with companies over the cost of new regulations.

The White House suspended a ruling signed by President George W. Bush four days before he left office that found refiners were adequately controlling benzene and other cancer- causing gases, said Cathy Milbourn, a spokeswoman at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The decision may lead to regulations requiring some of the 156 refineries in the U.S. to add or upgrade equipment or limit the burning of waste gases, the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council said. New limits may prompt a lawsuit by refiners, which have spent about $100 billion in almost two decades to lower pollution, according to an industry group.