Refinery Reform Campaign

Various Media Stories about New BAAQMD Flare Rule
July, 2005

New Rule Will Reduce Flaring At Refineries

ABC 7 News
San Francisco

July 20 (BCN) -- The board of directors of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District took a historic vote today, adopting a rule designed to reduce flaring at the Bay Area's five refineries.

The rule, the first of its kind in the nation, decreases refinery flaring, which is the combustion of excess gases at refineries to prevent them from venting directly into the atmosphere.

At a morning board meeting in San Francisco, dozens of environmentalists, doctors and East Bay residents urged the board to support the rule, which was designed by district staff to reduce air pollution and "provide better protection of public health and help the region attain and maintain ambient air quality standards," according to the district.

"I suffer from sore throat everyday, I also suffer from headaches, irritated eyes . . . itchy skin, my arms, my leg, my back and bumps on my skin. Without the flares regulated we feel these effects more," Richmond resident Ramona Martinez said today.

Representatives from the Western Petroleum Association and local refineries also addressed the board today, stating they were prepared to accept the refinery rule while emphasizing that the industry continues to believe that flares are not a major source of air pollution.

"They are first and foremost a critical safety device," said Mike Kenney, chair of the Western Petroleum Association's Bay Area refinery managers committee and the refinery manager at ConocoPhillips in Rodeo. "We further believe that a flare management plan is unnecessary but the in the spirit of cooperation we chose a path of collaboration for this rule making process."

The new rule mandates that each refinery prepare a flare minimization plan and that it conduct a root cause analysis of flaring events in which 500,000 cubic feet of gases are emitted. "Less significant flaring events" must also be included in a required annual report, according to the district.

Carla Perez, an organizer for Communities for a Better Environment, said while the rule would be better if the trigger for a root cause analysis was 100,000 cubic feet of gases, today's vote is a victory.

"I think what happened today really demonstrates . . . what can happen when people are motivated by helping their community and saving their own lives and protecting the health of themselves and their families," said Carla Perez, an organizer for Communities for a Better Environment.

In addition to adopting the flaring rule, the board of directors determined that it would discuss and re-evaluate the rule at its meeting in September.

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Air regulators limit refinery flares

Mercury News
Wed, Jul. 20, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO - Bay Area clean air regulators created a new tool to curb pollution Wednesday by adopting America's first hard limits on pollution from oil refinery flares.

Refineries across the nation commonly burn off gases to avert dangerous pressure buildups in equipment. Critics, however, say the devices have become an overused excuse to pollute with ineffective combustion that spews gases over refinery neighbors.

"This rule is long overdue," said Mark Ross, a Martinez city councilman who sits on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District board.

"Open flaring is good for the Olympics, not for communities."

Under the new rule, the Bay Area's five oil refineries must come up with flare pollution reduction plans by November 2006.

The rule was approved by a 15-1 vote of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District board, the political body charged with regulating industrial pollution in nine counties.

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New Measure Cuts Back On Refinery Flares

Sherry Hu
CBS5 News
Jul 20, 2005

The Bay Area has taken an historic step to clear the air around the region's five oil refineries.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District voted Wednesday to cut down on the frequency and length of refinery burn-off, or flaring. A flare is a safety device used during emergencies or at start-up or shutdown. It burns gases so they don't go directly into the air. However, a small amount of smog-causing pollutants are released. A spokesperson for the Western State States Petroleum Association, Cathy Reheis-Boyd, says it's just 2%.

"You don't want to flare if you are a refinery," she said. "That's just product that goes up a stack that you'd rather have selling to the public. So it's not in our best interests to flare either. We flare because we have to."

But some people believe refineries were flaring more than really needed. Two years ago, the air district board called for monitoring of refinery flaring, and the district says since then, emissions have dropped by 75%. Wednesday's new rule -- the first of its kind in the nation -- will make sure refineries don't move backwards.

Some refinery neighbors believe it means better health. Belen Rocha lives next to a refinery in Rodeo. She blames the plant for her children's allergies and asthma. One daughter has grown up and left home. "She moved out ... and now, she has no problems," Rocha said. "No allergy, no nothing."

Wanna Wright is a breast cancer survivor. She says she wasn't the only one from her North Richmond neighborhood who received the same devastating diagnosis 26 years ago. "We were all in our 30s. We believed something was happening to our neighborhood," she said.

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New Emission Rule for Bay Area Refineries

By CAROLYN MARSHALL
New York Times
July 21, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO, July 20 - California air regulators on Wednesday adopted a rule, the first of its kind in the nation, intended to reduce sharply the fiery flares and excess gas emissions vented from oil refineries in the Bay Area.

The rule is aimed at decreasing the level of hazardous air pollutants released by flares, an emergency mechanism used to vent excess pressure inside the plants. The flares' emissions, typically sulfur and hydrocarbons, can cause foul odors and have been linked to asthma and other breathing problems in residents living near oil and chemical refineries.

"People can smell it, see it and oftentimes start to experience health effects", said Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the agency that adopted the new rule. "When there is an event, it can be quite substantial in the amount of flaring."

The rule, intended to control the largest flares, requires each refinery to prepare a flare-minimization plan based on an analysis of releases of at least 500,000 standard cubic feet. It comes after four years of negotiations between regulators, the industry and community groups.

Those involved said the rule could become a model for flare control across the nation; a similar rule is under consideration for the Los Angeles area.

"It's something that is very progressive," said Walton Gill, a spokesman for the Chevron Corporation, which has its headquarters and a plant in the Bay Area. "But it's a rule that allows us the flexibility to operate the plant."

At an air district board meeting here on Wednesday, environmental and labor groups convinced the board that it should re-examine the new rule within a year to determine whether it goes far enough.

Environmentalists had hoped for a threshold of 100,000 standard cubic feet but said they viewed the rule as a move in the right direction.

"We're projecting this rule will clean up about half of the problem from the worst episodic exposures," said Greg Karras, a senior scientist with Communities for a Better Environment, a nonprofit group. "Now we need to go after other refinery sources."

Mr. Broadbent said that there were about 120 releases in the range of 500,000 standard cubic feet each year from local refineries and from local chemical plants, which are not yet covered by the rule.

"We are looking at this as a first step and looking at other industries we can extend to", he said.

There are scores of other industrial plants in the Bay Area, and roughly a dozen chemical plants emit flares, he said.

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Bay Area Restricts 'Flaring'
Refineries' practice is found to pollute the air. Southland agency plans to set similar limits.

By Miguel Bustillo
Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times
July 21, 2005

San Francisco area smog officials on Wednesday approved the nation's first rule requiring oil refineries to reduce the air pollution they generate by flaring, or openly burning gases.

Southern California air quality officials plan to impose similar limitations later this year.

The regulation to reduce flaring, approved Wednesday by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, follows years of complaints by community groups in Richmond, where refineries were regularly burning excess gases. After air quality officials agreed to monitor the practice, they found it was responsible for eight tons of pollution a day, including six tons of smog-forming volatile organic compounds.

The rule, which is being watched closely by air pollution officials around the country, requires refineries to develop detailed plans to reduce flaring, limiting it to emergency circumstances when releasing the gases is necessary for safety. Refineries that exceed limits for flaring have to file reports explaining why.

The extent of air pollution nationally from flaring remains unknown, some air quality officials said, because few states and cities track it, believing that the practice rarely occurs.

"Flares are an important safety-control device when refineries have excess gases" that they must burn off to avoid explosions, said Jack Broadbent, the chief executive officer of the Bay Area district. "But we had a situation where refineries were relying on flares as a routine way of running the facility."

In the Los Angeles region, similar complaints about pollution from flaring in the South Bay spurred the South Coast Air Quality Management District to monitor the practice.

It also found that flaring emissions were worse than suspected, releasing chemicals responsible for smog and particle pollution.

As a result, South Coast officials expect to approve regulations this fall that would cap emissions from flaring and trigger fines for refineries that fail to comply.

"We are going to develop a rule that has a little more teeth" than the one approved by the Bay Area district, said Laki Tisopulos, assistant deputy executive officer in charge of new rules for the South Coast district. Since the air quality agencies began monitoring flaring, refineries have made an effort to reduce the practice. Bay Area officials said daily emissions had been reduced by 75%, and South Coast officials said emissions dropped by as much as 70%.

Joe Sparano, president of the Western States Petroleum Assn., argued that the progress demonstrated that regulations were not needed.

But he said the oil industry could live with the regulations as long as they permitted some flaring to avoid safety problems and lengthy refinery shutdowns, which could affect California's already volatile gasoline prices.

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Air board approves rule to limit flares at five refineries

By Denis Cuff
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Jul. 21, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO - After fighting for two decades about a highly visible pollution source, oil refiners, air regulators and environmentalists welcomed a historic new rule adopted Wednesday to cut refinery flare pollution.

The Bay Area's air quality board approved the rule, which requires five refineries to develop emission reduction plans for flares.

It is the first rule in the nation to limit flares, a big burner.

Refiners say they need to flare to avert dangerous pressure buildups during upsets or unexpected conditions.

But refinery neighbors and regulators say oil companies have overused the safety devices as an excuse to dump pollution into the air.

"We've debated this for 20 years. The rule is long overdue," said Mark Ross, a Martinez city councilman on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Board. "Open flares are good for the Olympics, but not for communities."

The vote to approve the rule was 15-1.

Chris Daly, a San Francisco supervisor, said he supported the rule but voted no because he thought a study on rule options was not thorough enough.

Many past public discussions on the flares were rancorous.

In contrast, speakers from different camps Wednesday said the rule is a compromise that will serve as a national model.

"This is the first and only rule of its kind in the country to comprehensively address flares," said Greg Karras, senior scientist at Communities for a Better Environment, a statewide group based in Oakland. "We want a stronger rule, but this air board should be commended for having the courage to adopt this".

Refinery operators can live with the rule, even if they believe flare pollution estimates have been overblown, said Joe Sparano, president of the Western States Petroleum Association.

"We believe we can safely implement the rule," he said.

Karras and other environmentalists said the rule should set strict flare emission limits for sulfur, a lung irritant.

But air board members said they didn't want to delay the rule adoption, as would happen if they waited for a new study to consider sulfur limits.

Board members said they would consider sulfur limits later.

Jack Broadbent, the air district's chief executive officer, said the rule protects industrial neighbors by requiring each refinery to plan equipment and operational changes to minimize gas sent to flares.

"The idea is to prevent pollution rather than burn it", Broadbent said.

The Bay Area refineries are owned by Chevron, Shell, Tesoro, ConocoPhillips and Valero.

Several West Contra Costa residents said they worry refinery pollution harms them or their relatives.

Lupe Garcia, speaking through a Spanish translator, said her mother developed asthma problems after moving near the Chevron refinery. Her mother died of an asthma attack about two years ago, Garcia said.

"This is about people's lives. Please adopt the rule," Garcia said during Wednesday's public hearing before the vote.

The rule will cost the petroleum industry at least $1.4 million and as much as $10.6 million annually per refinery, air district consultants estimated in a study.

Those annual costs amount to a range from 0.2 percent to 2 percent of the net incomes of the plants, the consultants said.

Refiners have until November 2006 to submit the pollution reduction plans.

Contact Denis Cuff at 925-943-8267 or dcuff@cctimes.com

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New limits on refinery burn-offs
Health problems, pollution blamed on routine flaring

Erin Hallissy, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, July 21, 2005

In a decision praised by environmentalists and labor unions, Bay Area air quality officials imposed the toughest regulations in the nation Wednesday to reduce flaring at the East Bay's five oil refineries.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District board of directors overwhelmingly approved a plan that requires refineries to minimize routine flaring, which can release a toxic brew of gases and chemicals that critics say cause health problems and increase air pollution.

"I think it's really noteworthy that we're taking this leadership position on a very complicated issue and are going to provide not only cleaner air but better health protection," said district spokeswoman Teresa Lee. "We are going to show in the Bay Area that it can be done efficiently and effectively."

Other areas in the nation where refineries are located, including Southern California, may follow the groundbreaking plan, Lee said.

For years, environmentalists and residents who live near the Bay Area's refineries -- four along the waterfront in Contra Costa County and one in Solano County -- have complained that the plants routinely burn off gases from smokestacks, affecting air quality and exacerbating health problems for people with asthma and other respiratory illnesses. They forced the district to start looking into reducing flaring four years ago, leading to Wednesday's vote.

"It's definitely a precedent," said Greg Karras of Communities for a Better Environment, an environmental group that has urged stricter regulations of refineries and issued a report Wednesday asserting that flares harm community health. "This will have a benefit in reducing the highest levels of pollutants, and it's a great health benefit. It was a complete victory for the community."

Refinery officials, who have been participating in meetings about the regulations while denying that flaring has created problems or were done routinely, said Wednesday they would not oppose the new standards. The new rules also require refineries to file annual plans detailing steps they have taken to reduce flaring.

"The refineries all along have been advising that we thought that the rule was unnecessary," said Bill Tanner, spokesman for the ConocoPhillips refinery in Rodeo. "We do not consider flares to be a significant source of air pollution."

Dennis Bolt of the Western States Petroleum Association, said refiners also did not believe flares were a health threat but they understood the community's concerns and agreed to the rules, which allow flaring during emergencies.

"When this issue about flaring surfaced in 2001, we did not believe that flaring caused health impacts, and we don't believe it today," Bolt said. "But we heard loud and clear what the people were saying, what the public policymakers were saying and what the air district was saying. We're trying to be sensitive to how people feel. We feel that we've learned enough where we can comply with it."

Flaring -- which looks like flames coming from a smokestack -- is caused by excess gases being burned off during emergencies or plant maintenance operations that involve shutting down or restarting units. But critics complained that some refineries burned off gases during routine operations, creating unnecessary emissions that can lead to ground-level ozone pollution and create health problems.

The district required flare monitoring in 2003, which has reduced pollution from about 8 tons of organic gases a day to 2 tons, Lee said. Bolt attributed most of that reduction to the installation of a new compressor at the Tesoro Golden Eagle Refinery east of Martinez, which enabled excess gases to be captured before they were released into flares.

Other refineries, which already had compressors, have been able to find ways to reduce flaring, Bolt said.

Kevin Golden, who represented the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 342 and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 302, said workers had joined environmentalists to push for tougher oversight.

"When the refineries are flaring, the people who are closest to these flares are the workers on site," Golden said. "We see this as securing better employment in the future. When refineries modernize and are more efficient, they shut down less, and people stay on the job longer."

E-mail Erin Hallissy at ehallissy@sfchronicle.com.

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New rules to reduce refinery emissions

By Douglas Fischer, STAFF WRITER
The Argus
July 21, 2005

The days when local refineries could shunt waste petrochemicals to a smokestack, spark a flame and burn them into the atmosphere came to an official close Wednesday as air regulators approved the nation's first limits on the use of refinery flares.

Activists and county health officials called the near-unanimous decision a huge win for the region's air quality and for downwind communities' health.

"We've won our air district back", said a jubilant Greg Karras, senior scientist at Communities for a Better Environment, which pushed for years for the new rules. "They've won themselves a huge reduction in the very highest hours of pollution exposure ... and they've won some real health benefits."

Refiners supported the compromise measure but noted flaring's contribution to the region's overall air pollution remains miniscule.

Flaring pumps into the air unknown quantities of smog-forming hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides, plus other pollutants including sulfur dioxide, benzene, toluene and mercury. But the air district and refineries said Wednesday that upward of 98 percent of those pollutants are destroyed by incineration.

And air district figures suggest flaring accounts for less than one one-thousandth of the region's total smog-forming emissions, compared with 45 percent for autos and trucks.

"Flares are essential safety devices. They are a key element of our industry's long-standing practice of 'safety first,'" said Joe Sparano, president of the Western States Petroleum Association. "The reality of flares is that they almost completely combust the gases involved."

Refineries use flares to burn off excess gas. In an emergency, when gases under extreme pressure must be immediately decompressed, flares offer the only safe way to do that and reduce risk to workers, communities and the environment, refiners say.

Wednesday's rules do not challenge that. Instead, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District clamped down on the practice of flaring as a routine means to dispose of waste vapors.

The new rules require refineries to analyze root causes and notify the district for any large flaring events, develop a flaring minimization plan and submit an annual report evaluating all flares that emit more than 500 pounds of sulfur dioxide.

Flaring emissions have already dropped an estimated 75 percent from when the district started monitoring them in 2004, the district said.

The rules are expected to solidify those gains, which until now came from voluntary reductions. Other local air districts — particularly Los Angeles' — and the state are watching closely.

One analysis by the South Coast Air District in Los Angeles concluded that between 2 to 14 percent of all flaring events were true emergencies.

Total compliance cost for the five refineries covered by the rule ranges from $1.4 million per year to $10.6 million, mostly for equipment upgrades and emissions controls, according to district figures.

"This has been long overdue," said Contra Costa County Supervisor Mark Desaulnier, who sits both on the local air district board and the state air board. "It's really a threshold — a moment for the district to put us back as national leaders."

But it was clear from Wednesday's testimony that many residents of the largely low-income communities near refineries attribute a host of ailments, including asthma and breast cancer, to flares.

And although they were happy with this first step, they wanted more to be done.

Richmond resident Belen Ramirez-Rocha, a baby sitter, described for the board the tormenting skin conditions and breathing difficulties she saw in children under her care.

"It's not a coincidence," she said told the board in Spanish, "that the illnesses I just described happened after a flaring accident put tons of chemicals into the air."

Contact Douglas Fischer at dfischer@angnewspapers.com

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Various Media Stories about New BAAQMD Flare Rule July, 2005

Various Media Stories about New BAAQMD Flare Rule
July, 2005