Bayway ConocoPhillips Refinery Lawsuit

Benzene Lawsuits Information – Bayway Refinery (ConocoPhillips), Linden, New Jersey (NJ) 230,000 BPD – Speak to an attorney or lawyer regarding benzene exposure and benzene leukemia claims.

Bayway Refinery is a refining facility located in Linden, New Jersey and Elizabeth, New Jersey, owned by ConocoPhillips. This is the northernmost refinery on the East Coast of the United States. The oil refinery converts crude oil (supplied by tanker) into gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, and heating oil. As of 2006, the facility processes approximately 238,000 barrels per day (BPD) of crude oil, producing 145,000 BPD of gasoline and 110,000 BPD of distillates. Its products are delivered to East Coast customers via pipeline transport, barges, railcars and tank trucks.

The facility also houses a petrochemical plant which produces lubricants and additives, a polypropylene plant which produces 775 million pounds per year, and has its own railway container terminal and heliport.

The workers at the plant have been unionized under the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Local #877) since 1960.

Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller purchased several hundred acres of land between Linden and Elizabeth, New Jersey as the site for his latest refinery; construction was completed by 1909, and it began processing 20,000 barrels of crude oil a day. In 1911, Standard Oil was broken up into smaller units, and Standard Oil New Jersey became Esso; the facility was renamed the Esso Refinery.

In 1920, scientists there created the world’s first petrochemical, isopropyl alcohol.

The Ethyl Corporation, a joint venture of General Motors and Standard Oil, built a plant for the manufacture of tetra-ethyl lead (the “lead” in leaded gasoline) at the refinery over the course of three months in 1924. Within the first two months of its operation, the facility had seventeen cases of severe lead poisoning leading to hallucinations and insanity, and then five deaths in quick succession. The plant was shut down by the State of New Jersey in October, and Standard was forbidden to manufacture TEL there again without state permission.

In 1949, Esso invested $26 million in a gasoline refinery employing catalytic cracking. It remains the largest such facility in the world.

Petrochemical production facility Bayway Chemical Plant was launched by the Exxon Chemical Company in 1965. In 1973, the entire company was renamed Exxon, and the overall facility likewise became known as the Exxon Refinery.

In 1993, the Tosco Company bought the refinery from Exxon, although the Exxon Chemical Company continued to run the Chemical Plant.

The Morristown and Erie Railway became the contract switcher for the refinery in 1995, and set up the Bayshore Terminal Company to handle the management of 8,000 railroad cars full of chemicals each year.

In 1999, the Infineum company (a joint project of Exxon Chemicals, Shell International Chemicals and Shell Chemical) took over operation of the Chemical Plant. Infineum researches and produces crankcase lubricant additives, fuel additives, and specialty lubricant additives, as well as automatic transmission fluids, gear oils, and industrial oils.

Tosco was bought by Phillips Petroleum in 2001, which was merged with Conoco to form ConocoPhillips in 2002.

In late 2003, the refinery came under scrutiny for its high cancer rates among its work population and local residents. As a result, local Bayway Refinery (ConocoPhillips) affiliate WBayway Refinery (ConocoPhillips)-TV (Channel 7), New York, ran a feature about this incident. The refinery has since come under scrutiny by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Due to a lawsuit settlement, ConocoPhillips will take the following actions at Bayway:

  • Install a cover on wastewater separator or a new covered separator, and controls, by December 2008. This measure, which will cost at least $8 million, will reduce emissions of VOCs at the treatment unit by 95 percent.
  • Install a new fuel gas system by December 2010 to burn cleaner natural gas instead of fuel oil, reducing SO2 emissions by thousands of tons per year. This will cost $28 million to $38 million.
  • Install new pollution controls on heaters and boilers by December 2010 at cost of $20 million, reducing annual NOx emissions by approximately 900 tons.
  • Enhance pollution controls on a unit that converts crude oil into gasoline by December 2006, reducing annual NOx emissions by approximately 400 tons.
  • Reduce emissions of VOCs by implementing an enhanced leak detection and repair program.
  • Reduce VOC and acid gas emissions by minimizing flaring, the uncontrolled burning of emissions that bypass controls.
  • Audit and reduce toxic benzene emissions.

The petrochemical product known as benzene is an aromatic hydrocarbon. The benzene vapors that are breathed (inhaled) or absorbed through the skin can cause cancer. Typically, leukemia and lymphoma may be caused by very heavy exposure to benzene or years of chemical exposure. A worker exposed to benzene may contract aml leukemia (acute myelogenous leukemia).

If you, or a loved one, ever worked at Bayway Refinery (ConocoPhillips) in Linden, New Jersey (NJ) and you have been diagnosed with aml leukemia, MDS or any other benzene related cancer, then contact us immediately to talk to a benzene lawyer about your potential benzene exposure lawsuit at Bayway Refinery (ConocoPhillips) in Linden, New Jersey (NJ). Often, refineries and chemical plants such as Bayway Refinery (ConocoPhillips) used benzene, manufactured benzene, sold benzene or used benzene-containing products. While working at refineries and chemical plants such as Bayway Refinery (ConocoPhillips) in Linden, New Jersey (NJ), workers are often exposed to harmful levels of benzene during benzene spills, pipe or valve leaks, pipe explosions, line ruptures, during maintenance, cleanup, in the refining process or in the chemicals or processes that occur at Bayway Refinery (ConocoPhillips) in Linden, New Jersey (NJ). Talk to a Texas Trial Lawyer that understands benzene exposure cases. Upon investigation and research you may have a potential benzene lawsuit against Bayway Refinery (ConocoPhillips) in Linden, New Jersey (NJ) for your benzene exposure.

Benzene exposure has serious health effects. Breathing high levels of benzene can result in death, while low levels can cause drowsiness, dizziness, rapid heart rate, headaches, tremors, confusion, and unconsciousness. Eating or drinking foods containing high levels of benzene can cause vomiting, irritation of the stomach, dizziness, sleepiness, convulsions, rapid heart rate, and death.

The major effect of benzene from chronic (long-term) exposure is to the blood. Benzene damages the bone marrow and can cause a decrease in red blood cells, leading to anemia. It can also cause excessive bleeding and depress the immune system, increasing the chance of infection.

Some women who breathed high levels of benzene for many months had irregular menstrual periods and a decrease in the size of their ovaries. It is not known whether benzene exposure affects the developing fetus in pregnant women or fertility in men.

Animal studies have shown low birth weights, delayed bone formation, and bone marrow damage when pregnant animals breathed benzene.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) classifies benzene as a human carcinogen. Long-term exposure to high levels of benzene in the air can cause leukemia, a potentially fatal cancer of the blood-forming organs. In particular, acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) may be caused by benzene.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has set the maximum permissible level of benzene in drinking water at 0.005 milligrams per liter (0.005 mg/L). The EPA requires that spills or accidental releases into the environment of 10 pounds (4.5 kg) or more of benzene be reported to the EPA.

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set a permissible exposure limit of 1 part of benzene per million parts of air (1 ppm) in the workplace during an 8-hour workday, 40-hour workweek. The short term exposure limit for airborne benzene is 5 ppm for 15 minutes.

If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML), Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL) or Mesothelioma Asbestos Cancer or other cancers & diseases, then you need to consult with an attorney to discuss a potential exposure lawsuit. Talk to a Board Certified Personal Injury Trial Lawyer, certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, with 30+ years of legal experience. Call 1-800-883-9858 or click the link below.

Contact our Lawyers