Toxic petroleum dissolved in groundwater beneath Suncor Energy north of downtown Denver is seeping directly into the bottom of Sand Creek near the creek's confluence with the South Platte River? and piped drinking water at the refinery may be contaminated with benzene.
State health officials today ordered additional measures to minimize environmental harm and prevent people from ingesting contaminated water. Those measures include posting of "Drinking Water Warning" signs at the refinery.

Benzene levels in Sand Creek are fluctuating but reached 670 parts per billion on Dec. 22 -- 134 times higher than the 5 ppb national drinking water standard.

An anonymous tip from a Suncor employee Thursday alerted state health officials to contamination in tap water on the refinery property.

YINCHUAN, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed in a road accident Tuesday morning that caused a chemical leak in northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, local police confirmed Tuesday.

The accident occurred at 8:30 a.m. in Yuanzhou district in the city of Guyuan. A van rear-ended a fuel tank truck loaded with 20 tonnes of crude benzene after failing to brake on an icy road, which caused an explosion, local police said.

Villagers nearby have been evacuated due to a poisonous chemical leak following the explosion, according to local authorities.

The gas from the incomplete combustion of the crude benzene was poisonous to humans, local police said.

esting of air samples taken near the site of a daylong fire July 13 at the Niagara Lubricant plant in Buffalo's Black Rock neighborhood revealed high levels of benzene, a carcinogenic compound, according to the executive director of the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York.
Erin Heaney said her group, which took the air samples from about six blocks away on Amherst Street, received the results of testing Monday.
"The levels were very high," Heaney said, following a meeting Monday with residents in the city's Black Rock and Riverside neighborhoods.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "benzene is safe at nine parts per million, but our tests show that, on the day of the fire, it was at 100 parts per million."
"That's definely a lot. That and the compound toluene were also above the EPA guidelines for short-term exposure," Heaney added.
She said the results of the testing also found a number of compounds that not over the EPA guidelines, but they are known to magnify the effects of benzine. One of them is xylene, a clear, often colorless flammable liquid.

Chemical spill forces evacuation of U of M facility

A building on the University of Michigan’s North Campus was evacuated Friday evening after a potentially dangerous chemical spilled on a laboratory floor.

A student working at the Herbert H. Dow Building, located at 2300 Hayward St., reportedly spilled a half gallon jug of Benzene on the floor at about 7:40 p.m., according to reports from the University of Michigan Department of Public Safety. Continued...

1

Royal Dutch Shell Plc had a release of an unknown amount of benzene after an equipment failure on a distilling unit at its Deer Park refinery and chemical plant in Texas, according to a company filing.

Shell’s filing also showed the equipment was repaired.

The Deer Park refinery, a venture between The Hague-based Shell and Mexico’s state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos, can process 340,000 barrels of oil a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The complex is 21 miles (34 kilometers) southeast of Houston on the Houston Ship Channel.

U.S. refineries must notify the National Response Center if they release hazardous substances in excess of reportable quantities, according to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, commonly known as Superfund.