Diamond Bar, CA – In the latest move for protections from oil industry impacts, the largest air quality regulator in the state – the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) – is set to approve a major tightening of oil refinery regulation. This would cut cancer-causing benzene emissions and smogforming Volatile Organic Compounds or VOCs in environmental justice communities. Proposed Amended Rule 1178 (PAR 1178) was only added to the Community Emission Reduction Plan (CERP) for Wilmington, Carson, and West Long Beach (with the highest concentration of Oil Refining on the West Coast) after CBE and allies won its addition in 2019.
If adopted Friday, the regulation will finally implement that plan, also apply to the whole South Coast region, and set a national precedent. It is projected to slash emissions by adding domes onto floating roof crude oil storage tanks that were previously exempted, require weekly inspection with Infrared Optical Gas Imaging (OGI) cameras to detect invisible leaks, and require more stringent standards for leaking seals and other components. These modifications are estimated to cut VOCs by about one ton/day (though this is a conservative estimate, and far greater emissions could be cut). The rule would affect about 30 facilities (including oil refineries and petroleum tank farms), and nearly a thousand tanks.
“Tight controls on cancer-causing and smog-forming refinery storage tank emissions not only protects community health in the short term – it is part of a much broader need.” said Julia May, Senior Scientist at Communities for a Better Environment. “The big picture of Refinery Accountability also includes the Governor’s work to protect working class consumers from gasoline price-gouging and state Greenhouse Gas plans to gradually phase out inherently dirty refinery fossil fuel production before the climate is destroyed. We need all of it.”