The Louisiana Bucket Brigade is releasing a report later today on accidents at refineries across the state during 2011. The group says pollution is increasing.
Brigade Founding Director Anne Rolfes says the findings are based on accident reports the industry files to the state Department of Environmental Quality.
“What we found this year is that there were about five accidents a week in the refining industry," Rolfes said. "The problem is that the volume of pollution that they released to the air and to the water and to the soil was greater than last year, and that’s obviously disturbing when you see the problem grow.”
The report cites Exxon Mobil as reporting 138 accidents for 2011 — the most of any other company that year. They involved refineries in Chalmette and Baton Rouge. A spokeswoman for the oil company says no comment would be made until it could review the report.
