The benzene blues.

Byline: The Register-Guard

How's this for screwball federal logic: Because Oregon and Washington have cleaner air than most other states, the petroleum industry gets to continue dumping the nation's dirtiest gasoline in the Northwest.

Under pressure from lawsuits, the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing new national limits on the level of cancer-causing benzene in gasoline. But the new rules would allow Oregon and Washington oil refiners to buy or trade credits from other areas rather than meet an acceptable standard for benzene levels in the Northwest.

By the EPA's own estimates, Oregon and Washington would still be left with higher benzene levels than the rest of the country.

If that doesn't make you mad, you've either been breathing too many gasoline fumes or you're an oil company bigwig. The oil industry lobbied the Bush administration to adopt the new rule so it could avoid spending millions of dollars to upgrade Northwest refineries to reduce benzene levels.

The proposed rule has raised the ire of the U.S. senators who represent Oregon and Washington. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Gordon Smith, R-Ore.; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., sent a letter last Friday to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson demanding to know why the agency is proposing to regulate benzene in a way that would leave the Northwest with the dirtiest gas in the nation.

Benzene levels in the Northwest are already double the national average. That's partly because most of the region's gasoline comes from Alaska, where oil naturally has a high benzene content. While the federal government has required cleaner gasoline elsewhere in recent decades, it has exempted the Northwest because its smog levels are considered too low to trigger regulation - and because chemical and oil industry lobbyists have resisted tougher benzene standards here for decades.

Now, the EPA is proposing new rules to reduce benzene in gasoline nationally, but the agency plans to allow oil companies to trade pollution credits and continue selling gasoline with high levels of the toxic chemical in the Northwest. The agency's twisted rationale: The Northwest still has less smog than the rest of the country, so it can remain a regional benzene hotspot, while emissions are reduced elsewhere.

It's an off-key song and dance that doesn't play well in Eugene, where benzene levels have been recorded 10 times higher than those believed to cause cancer as a result of lifetime exposure. Nor does it get applause in traffic-intense downtown Portland, where benzene concentrations have been measured at 40 times the levels considered safe.

Oregon would be unable to override this retrograde rule change with state legislation. While new tailpipe standards planned by Oregon and Washington should help reduce emissions, federal law bars individual states from overriding EPA rules governing gasoline ingredients.

The EPA should scrap the proposed rule change and adopt a standard that regulates benzene at the same reduced level nationwide - and that puts the health of all Americans, including those in the Northwest, ahead of industry interests. Regions with clean air shouldn't be rewarded with lax benzene standards.