Take 5 Minutes

When Federal Safeguards Pause, the Air Doesn’t

When federal safeguards pause, the air doesn’t. This week’s Take 5 Minutes looks at two refineries with the same corporate parent and similar smokestacks—but very different protections for the people downwind—after D.C. quietly paused tougher toxic-air rules.

This Week’s 5-Minute Breakdown

What just happened: The White House granted a two-year delay on updated “HON” toxic-air standards for dozens of chemical plants, including part of a Phillips 66 complex in Borger, Texas, while families downwind from its sister refinery in Linden, New Jersey, will keep living under both federal and much stricter state rules.

Why it matters: The wind doesn’t care about state lines—so when toxic limits and monitoring depend on your ZIP code, Climate Protection, Dignity & Inclusion, and Knowledge & Scientific Integrity all get treated as optional instead of nonnegotiable.

The real-world contrast: Around New Jersey’s Bayway refinery, binding state rules force fenceline monitoring, public risk reviews, and tighter emission cuts; around Texas’s Borger complex, looser “screening levels” and self-reporting mean similar pollutants, higher cancer and COPD rates, and far less accountability—even while the federal rules are on hold.

What to watch: Watch whether Congress or the courts push EPA to restore stronger HON standards, whether Texas tightens its own rules, and whether frontline communities in refinery corridors get the data, health protections, and political attention New Jersey residents already fought to win.

What you can do in 60 seconds: Share this briefing with one person who lives near an industrial corridor or with anyone who cares about industrial pollution and the health affects it can cause, then use this tool to find your U.S. senators and representative and send them a quick note like this:

“I’m asking you to oppose any delays or rollbacks of EPA’s toxic-air rules for refineries and chemical plants, and to require real-time fenceline monitoring in communities downwind. Please restore stronger HON standards and keep public tools like EJScreen and AirToxScreen available so families can see the risks they’re breathing.”

For the full story—maps, health data, and the NJ–TX side-by-side—read my new refinery piece in The Fulcrum. Read the full piece here.