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The industry says testing employed currently can overstate the amount of condensable soot emitted by refineries under certain conditions, a flaw the EPA has acknowledged.

If condensable soot were eventually regulated, it would force nearly all of the country’s 135 oil refineries to invest in new pollution-control equipment, based on estimates of current emissions using the EPA’s contested testing method.

The API, however, says the test can produce erroneously high readings of condensable soot if the samples react with other chemicals that commonly are present at a refinery.

Scientific research cited by the EPA estimates that, combined, condensable and solid soot cause more than 50,000 premature deaths a year in the United States, findings that are disputed by the industry.

The EPA said in a statement that it is still conducting research into how to reliably measure condensable soot, but did not comment on a timeline for finishing the effort.