An EPA document shows that a new Chevron fuel ingredient has a lifetime cancer risk more than 1 million times higher than what the agency usually finds acceptable — even greater than another Chevron fuel’s sky-high risk disclosed earlier this year.
The EPA decided its scientists were overstating the risks and gave Chevron the go-ahead to make the new boat fuel ingredient at its refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
They are trying to save money by adding a solvent mixture refined from recycled plastic. But since the feedstock contains a wide variety of junk (called “UVCB substances" or “Substances of Unknown or Variable composition, Complex reaction products or Biological materials”) the resulting additive is a very complex mixture, including many untested and/or potentially toxic chemicals.