14 DAY TRIAL // As if greenheads needed any more reasons to dislike dirty energy sources, it appears that accidents are reported at oil refineries in Louisiana roughly 6.3 days a week. So yes, accidents occur just about every day, except for Sundays when the refineries probably feel like taking a break from polluting the environment.
Green group Louisiana Bucket Brigade says that about 50% of the accidents reported in 2012 occurred due to bad weather, Grist reports.
Equipment or operational failures are to blame for little over 30% of the total number of accidents, and whatever percentage remains need be linked to power outages, the same source details.
For those who don't fancy percentages, the findings of this reports can also be summed up as follows: the 17 refineries and 2 associated chemical plants in this state had 327 accidents last year.
Combined, these mishaps translated into about 2.4 million pounds of air pollution and 12.7 million gallons of water pollution hitting the environment.
“Year after year our state gets the pollution and the oil industry gets the profit,” Anne Rolfes with the Bucket Brigade says.
The green group fears that, as shocking as the findings of their investigation might be, a significant number of accidents go unreported. This means that the damage done to the environment by these facilities could be much greater than assumed.