By Jacob Klein
Our partners at Communities for a Better Environment, 350 Bay Area, and Sunflower Alliance (among many others) have been working hard for years to reduce emissions from local refineries. These emissions are poisoning the air we breathe and disproportionately impacting frontline communities who already face increased public health risks. Read below to find out more about this critical issue and how to take action. We especially need people to show up to the Air District Board meeting on June 2nd to give public comment in support of reducing emissions.
From our partners:
The worst industrial source of particulate matter pollution in the Bay Area is from its refineries’ Catalytic Cracking Units, also known as "Cat Crackers”. Particulate matter (PM) pollution is estimated to kill up to 3,000 Bay Area residents every year. There is no safe level of PM exposure.
Recently, the Advisory Council of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Air District) recommended that the Air District take “maximum feasible action within its authority to reduce emissions from [particulate matter] sources, prioritizing the most impacted areas.” This common-sense rule will set a standard to reduce the dangerous particulate matter from Chevron's and PBF’s “Cat Crackers” by 70%. This standard would require pollution control technology, wet gas scrubbers, already in use at the majority of refineries around the US, including at Valero in Benicia.
However, as expected, Big Oil lobbyists from the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) are now lobbying aggressively against these improvements arguing that the changes to protect our health are too expensive to justify the Air District passing any further pollution control regulations.
We cannot afford to lose this fight for environmental justice. In Richmond, particulate matter pollution is responsible for some of the highest rates of childhood asthma, cancer, and premature death in the state. This deadly pollution is a clear environmental injustice for the one million people who live under the plume of these refinery emissions, which covers a huge swath of the East Bay, and hurts vulnerable communities of color the worst.
The Air District Board of Directors is poised to vote on this landmark pollution rule on June 2nd. Because of the refineries’ opposition, the Air District has dragged its feet on protecting our communities from “Cat Cracker” PM for at least five years of our advocacy. This is the final fight.
Our partners Communities for a Better Environment, Sunflower Alliance, 350 Bay Area and more have been leading this struggle and now we need to show up to support them in bringing this to a final vote. Send a message to the Air District Board of Directors telling them that this injustice is unacceptable. Don’t let Big Oil win. The Board of Directors needs to hear from the thousands of constituents like you that believe in protecting the health of our neighbors.
In addition to sending a message, you can take action by making a public comment at the BAAQMD Board Meeting on June 2nd. By RSVPing here, you'll be invited to a training on how to make public comment and get all the information to attend the Air District's Board meeting.
Photo credit: Martinez refinery by Jaegar Moore via Flickr Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 2.0).