Some anecdotes as someone who lived near one of these locations growing up (fortunately about 30 mi away)
1) Every now and then, our entire town would smell terrible, presumably from the winds carrying the emissions to us
2) A friend who moved here during my high school had to move away since his whole family suffered from asthma and it was made much noticeably worse here
3) Heard a couple huge explosions during my lifetime from these refineries sadly.
I did an internship at a pulp mill that was on the Canada-U.S. border (Canadian side). There was an elementary school literally besides the plant (~50m away).
If there was a release of sulphur dioxide that was going to stay on the Canadian side, the plant management notified the relevant authorities. Sometimes the kids were told not to go outside for recess.
If the SO2 was potentially going to drift over the border, the entire plant was shut down because the U.S. EPA would hit them with millions of dollars in fines.
Not particularly but for what it's worth things like bad smells and explosions haven't happen in a really long time here. I am not sure if there's an increased cancer rate where I am located but will likely be researching that soon.
1) Every now and then, our entire town would smell terrible, presumably from the winds carrying the emissions to us
2) A friend who moved here during my high school had to move away since his whole family suffered from asthma and it was made much noticeably worse here
3) Heard a couple huge explosions during my lifetime from these refineries sadly.