U.S. oil refinery emissions in Texas during storm Uri 2021

In February 2021, extreme cold swept across the U.S, brought on by winter storm Uri. This heavily impacted the country's energy sector, particularly in Texas where millions of people faced power outages. These conditions also impacted Texas' refineries and petrochemical plants as supplies needed to run them were disrupted. As these facilities shut down, gases were flared - or burned off - to prevent damage to their processing units. This released thousands of tons of pollutants into the skies over Texas, including carbon monoxide and benzene. The five largest refiners in the state emitted more than 300,000 pounds of pollutants, with 14,255 pounds released by Motiva's Port Arthur refinery in less than five hours on Monday 15, February.