The extreme cold, which killed at least two dozen people in Texas and knocked out power to more than 4 million at its peak, also hit natural gas and electric generation, cutting supplies needed to run the plants.
Shutdowns led to the refineries flaring, or burning and releasing gases, to prevent damage to their processing units. That flaring darkened the skies in eastern Texas with smoke visible for miles.
"These emissions can dwarf the usual emissions of the refineries by orders of magnitude," said Jane Williams, chair of the Sierra Club's National Clean Air Team.
She said U.S. regulators must change policies that allow "these massive emissions to occur with impunity."
https://www.usnews.com/news/top-new...-of-tons-of-air-pollutants-as-refineries-shut
