WASHINGTON -- In a unified threat to the Environmental Protection Agency, all four senators from Washington and Oregon demanded Friday that a proposed standard for regulating the cancer-causing chemical benzene be toughened so that higher levels are not allowed in the Northwest than in other parts of the country.

The demand came in a letter from Democrats Ron Wyden, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and Republican Gordon Smith in a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson. The EPA is finalizing rules that would limit the amount of benzene and other dangerous chemicals that could be released into the air.

The proposed regulations would allow oil refineries and other plants to reach federal limits by trading pollution credits. Such a system would allow some plants to exceed maximum standards as long as plants releasing fewer toxic particles offset those emissions.

But the four senators say a national trading system penalizes the Northwest.

"Instead of improving air quality, this EPA plan would take our region in the wrong direction," Cantwell said in a statement. "A plan that allows regional hot spots for a carcinogen like benzene hurts our efforts to reduce overall emissions or improve air quality in places like the Northwest."

Historically, the EPA has not regulated benzene in the Northwest because the region's air was generally clean, and the EPA focused on more heavily polluted areas.

However, according to EPA data, the Northwest currently has some of the nation's highest benzene levels, and gasoline produced at refineries in the region carry benzene that is three times higher than EPA's proposed national standard.

"It is not acceptable for the EPA to trade on the health of Northwest citizens," said Wyden, who has led the fight against the proposed rule. "We need a nationwide minimum standard that will regulate the use of benzene and put the health of all Americans ahead of oil industry concerns."

Critics point out that under the regulation, gasoline in the Northwest would still contain about 1 percent benzene even though the national standard would be about half that amount.

While the EPA has defended the new standards, the four senators and other critics say the rule was written to benefit oil companies.

"Northwest residents are exposed to some of the highest levels of benzene in the country, and the EPA's plan could make it even worse," Murray said. "There is a proven, cost-effective way to protect the health of our residents, and I want to know why the EPA has rejected it."

The senators would not speculate on what might happen if the EPA ignores their request or fails to modify the regulation.

But an aide to Wyden said the Oregon senator would consider blocking EPA nominations.

In November, Wyden formally blocked the nomination of Roger Martella to be EPA general counsel. That nomination remains stalled, and a Wyden aide said the senator could renew his objection if the agency did not reconsider the regulation.

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