West County Toxics Coalition • National Refinery Reform Campaign

Media Release
For immediate release February 23, 2005

Contact: Henry Clark, West County Toxics Coalition: 510-232-3427
or Denny Larson, National Refinery Reform Campaign: 415-845-4705

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(Richmond, CA) A new report by oil refinery watchdog groups reveals recent Air District reports of decreased flaring and a new weakened proposed flaring rule are the result of pressure from the industry. Breathing Fire: in their own words, by the West County Toxics Coalition and the National Refinery Reform Campaign chronicles the Richmond community struggle against unnecessary flaring over twenty years in striking oral histories and community based research. As excess flaring is a widespread problem, pending regulations could become national precedent.

"The flares have become a symbol of a bigger problem beyond the incident at the moment," Henry Clark, Executive Director of the West County Toxics Coalition. "The big issue is, that even after twenty years, the refineries and our Air District don’t want a tough action to ban the unnecessary flaring that dumps tons of toxics into our breathing space every day."

National groups are weighing in on the possible precedent if the Bay Area beats the LA District in adopting a flare rule. "The District’s transparent backtracking on their studies is at odds with the body of research on flares, every other study in fact, even their own," said Denny Larson, National Refinery Reform Campaign. "We need the whole truth and dramatic action for 20 years of injustice to make this right – people who have suffered unnecessarily deserve nothing less."

Breathing Fire: in their own words, lets the people of Richmond tell their story about living under the shadow of flares through oral histories. Dorothy Reid, a grandmother, whose family has three generations suffering from asthma stated: "We see the flares and smoke going off from the refinery and made the connection with the health impacts. We have got to bring these refinery flares under control and fight for it as a community. It is killing us; we have a serious fight going on here—a life and death struggle." Amadia Thomas a co-founder of the West County Toxics Coalition, a former housing rights activist said: "For the communities, it is a civil rights issue, they can never pay enough for our health, the health we lost. As a matter of Environmental Justice, the people affected by the lack of action by our agencies over these 20 years demand the strongest possible ban on flaring."

Breathing Fire: in their own words tracks the progression of Bay Area Air District activities since 1989, when the Air District study estimated over 20 tons of flare emissions from refineries until the present time, when the agency has tried to backtracked on earlier studies. The District has promised various times over ten years to adopt flare regulations, but failed to keep their promises. According to the report and former employees, the District has developed a culture of avoiding action against powerful refineries and instead taking weak measures.

The report cites Robert Kwong, the Air District’s former general counsel who resigned under pressure, told the Contra Costa Times on January, 15, 2003: "a culture (at the Air District) that sought to avoid controversy added up to reluctance to tackle refinery flares." The Los Angeles Air Board, Kwong noted, began requiring flare monitoring five years before the Bay Area in anticipation of eventually cracking down. "The Bay Area district has for years avoided that type of controversy by being as simple and as non-cutting edge in their approach as possible."

The report also documents how the refineries transparently laid out their plans to pressure the agency to manipulate the data. Tom Mann, Technical Manager at Chevron, wrote to Richmond City Councilman Tom Butt’s e-mail forum on January 9, 2003, "we believe that 22 tons per day is a grossly excessive estimate of the actual emissions from flares, and we are working with the Air District to refine the technical assumptions they used to calculate these emission levels."

The report is issued by California’s oldest Environmental Justice group, the West County Toxics Coalition, and the National Refinery Reform Campaign, a project of Global Community Monitor, headed by long time refinery activist, Denny Larson.