The next critical mobilization in support of a cap on refinery emissions is at the next meeting of the Stationary Source Committee of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD). Once again, mass turnout is essential for challenging escalating Air District staff opposition to the caps and for maintaining the support of our Board allies. BAAQMD staff continues trying to block evaluation and passage of Rule 12-16, the proposal for caps on toxic and climate-warming refinery emissions. We must push back.
At the Air District Board’s annual retreat on January 18th, our coalition of labor, climate, and environmental justice groups made every effort to respect the process. Having heard from the Board that they no longer needed to see and hear large crowds making similar public comments, we decided to mobilize only a few speakers to make our key points. Andrés Soto of Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) spoke to the need and purpose of the caps, and Roger Lin of CBE to BAAQMD’s legal authority to implement caps. Public-health consultant Heather Kuiper, DrPH, outlined the letter submitted by local public health professionals, California Nurses Association, and others on the local public health impacts of increased tar sands emissions. Laura Gracie placed our demand that future public hearings be scheduled after the release of the rule and EIR in March—hearings that would not only be held in refinery communities, but at times when youth, working people and the broader public could easily attend.
In response, staff and Board allies challenged the need for caps and yet again countered with staff proposals for totally unspecified, future rules that are supposedly superior alternatives to our proposed caps. And we were soundly criticized for not being in attendance in sufficient numbers to show seriousness. We learned that the Air District staff will attempt to use the next Stationary Source Committee meeting on January 30th to undermine the current rule-making process, and challenge the requirement to complete the Environmental Impact Report, complete the study of socioeconomic impact, and final rule release of the emissions cap.
Once again we are calling for all-hands-on-deck attendance at the January 30th Stationary Source Committee meeting. Let’s make it absolutely clear that our Bay Area communities demand that the Rule 12-16 be completed and released in March, as previously promised; that accessible public hearings be held in all refinery communities; and that the full Board votes on the emission caps in May—again, as previously promised.
WHEN
Monday, January 30, 8:15 am to noon
The meeting starts at 9 but please try to arrive as early as possible to prevent the fossil fuel folks from grabbing all the seats.
WHERE
Bay Area Air Quality Management District
375 Beale St., Suite 600
San Francisco, CA 94105
(about a 10-minute walk from Embarcadero BART)
Emission caps on pollution from oil refineries—greenhouse gases, toxic gases (NOx and SOx), and dangerous particulate matter—are crucial not only for protecting our health and safety and the climate, but for preventing the Bay Area from becoming a major outlet for tar sands crude oil. Refining tar sands crude produces much higher levels of both health-harming air pollution and greenhouse gases. With a cap on refinery emissions in place, a tsunami of tar sands into Bay Area refineries could be effectively prevented.
We are now in the final push toward the end of this four-year campaign for refinery emissions caps! Following the release of draft rules in March, we want public evening hearings in frontline refinery communities that easily allow working people and students to attend. Ongoing work to expand community support and educate newly-elected board members will be critical in coming months. Between the victory of No Coal in Oakland and our forthcoming refinery emissions cap, we can send a message to the entire nation: whatever fantasies the Trump administration has to expand coal and tar sands production, these dirty fossil fuels will not come into California refineries and ports!
Key Upcoming Dates:
- January 30, 2017: Stationary Source Committee
- March 3, 2017: Release of rules, staff analysis, socioeconomic analysis
- May 17, 2017: Board hearing and vote on final rules
Ongoing City Council Resolutions Support Caps
To ensure that the Board doesn’t fall further behind—and votes YES on the caps proposal next May—we are mobilizing a grassroots campaign in the entire nine-county Bay Area to encourage city councils to pass resolutions supporting caps on refinery emissions.
Thus far the city councils of Belmont, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Fairfax, Hayward, Oakland, Richmond, San Pablo, San Rafael, and San Francisco have endorsed our call for rapid completion of rules for emission caps. This is citizen democracy at its most basic: community residents stepping up to demand their elected representatives act to protect their health and safety. It will take a majority of the 24-member Board of Directors of BAAQMD to vote and pass the regulation limiting refinery emissions.
Gathering support resolutions from city councils and other elected bodies in their districts is the best way to make sure that BAAQMD Board members do their job and protect our communities. Dozens of elected bodies remain to be contacted. We need members of all communities to bring this resolution to their local elected bodies. Join us at our bi-monthly meetings on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month from 11 am to noon! We meet at the Bobby Bowens Progressive Center at 2540 Macdonald Ave. in Richmond (a 10-minute walk from BART, across from the Richmond Civic Center). To get involved, contact: sunflowerjsj at gmail.com.
More Resources
To learn more about the caps proposal, city council resolutions, the public health impacts of refinery emissions, and a support letter from United Steel Workers Local 5 (which represents 80% of Bay Area refinery workers), check out these documents:
- Model BAAQMD resolution Aug 2016
- Cover Letter
- Full Community–Worker Proposal
- USW Local 5 Support Letter
- Public Health Impacts Letter
- Public Health Presentation
Read about the history of this campaign on our blog.
This article reposted with permission from the Sunflower Alliance.