The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has rejected fence line air monitoring plans for all five Bay Area refineries, saying the plans don’t meet the requirements of its refining emissions tracking rule.
The district said Monday that its rule requires Bay Area refineries to operate fence line air monitoring systems that measure specific pollutants crossing their property lines. Refineries are required to monitor, record and publicly report concentration levels of multiple compounds, including hydrogen sulfide.
The district said that monitoring is already underway, and the data is available to the public in near real time.
“Fenceline monitoring is crucial to informing the public about air pollution levels near refineries and helps to safeguard the health of those living in frontline communities,” said Dr. Philip Fine, executive officer of the air district, in a statement.
“Our disapproval of the air monitoring plans is an important step in the process to advance the operation of the fence line monitoring systems, improve data quality and make the data more transparent for the public.”
The district said the refineries were required to update their monitoring plans to address requirements for monitoring hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless gas with the odor of rotten eggs. Exposure to hydrogen sulfide can induce tearing of the eyes, headaches, nausea and vomiting.
Fenceline air monitoring plans must include detailed descriptions of the equipment used for fence line monitoring; the siting, operation and maintenance of that equipment; procedures for implementing data quality assurance and quality control; and procedures for reporting the measured pollutant concentrations.
The district said following its disapproval of the plans, it will work with the refineries to make improvements in these areas.\
Fenceline monitoring is one tool among many the air district uses to measure air pollutant concentrations and facility emissions. The district works to continually improve its emissions and air quality measurement programs as needs for air quality data evolve, particularly for communities that are disproportionately impacted by air pollution.
When rules keep changing and deep pockets can be ‘legally’ fleeced, it’s hard to make business plans.
Unlike, ‘not for profit government agencies’, businesses need political stability and regulatory certainty.
An unstable business environment can cause businesses to pause expansion plans and question “is it worth continuing business operations” in this county and state.
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US Steel is closing their Pittsburg plant in two months.
That’s 600 living wage Union jobs GONE FOREVER.
For every job lost another 8 – 10 people working for businesses providing materials and services will be effected. An some will end up without a job as well.
Economy of surrounding cities and their businesses will also take a hit.
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But it’s OK, CoCo county got $4 million in fines out of ’em.
Unelected bureaucrats still have their government jobs.
Your comment is spot on! This YouTube video is almost an hour long… WELL WORTH the time: https://manhattan.institute/book/the-unelected-how-an-unaccountable-elite-is-governing-america
Anything to increase the cost of doing business and increasing costs to consumers.
That must be the BAABBQ mission statement.
I my GOD Dr. Phill has a problem. Can’t wait for $ 8.00 a gallon. You just can’t make this up.