The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors will hear appeals Tuesday of county planning commission approvals of two proposals earlier this year to convert the Martinez Marathon Refinery and the Phillips 66 Refinery in Rodeo to renewable biofuel facilities.
More than a dozen environmental groups and individuals are appealing the decisions, which would stop crude oil production at the facilities in favor of repurposing the both to process renewable feedstocks into renewable diesel fuel, renewable components for blending with other transportation fuels, and renewable fuel gas.
Both projects were approved unanimously by the planning commission.
Opponents – which include the Center for Biological Diversity; Communities for a Better Environment; Richmond city councilmembers Claudia Jimenez, Eduardo Martinez and Gayle McLaughlin; Friends of the Earth; Natural Resources Defense Council; and San Francisco Baykeeper – say the projects’ environmental impacts reports are faulty. They also say the county isn’t mitigating significant environmental problems the projects could cause.
County staff recommends the board deny the appeals, based on the projects being consistent with the county’s general plan and both areas’ zoning, and that the project would improve air quality and reduce the amount of hazardous materials in the area.
The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the board chambers in the county administration building, located at 1025 Escobar Street in Martiez.
Now the liberal stooges are anti biofuel. You can’t make this kind of stupid up.
That should help raise the price of everything.
Rich white people saying blue collar jobs are bad!
I’ll stick my little nose here where it belongs. You remember the stench of the pulp mills in east county ??
I rest my case.
what next? soylent green?
“the project would improve air quality” There is nothing wrong with our air. The only way quality would be improved is to rid the air of pollen. Getting rid of a problem that does not exist, and replacing it with a solution that is not viable, all for the sake of manipulated data and a Marxist dream to end progress.
And do the refinery owner/operators have a say in this communist takeover?
Converting a “refinery” in a bio-diesel plant will be EXPENSIVE. The local refineries are designed to handle crude oil, with the ability to remove sulfur, nitrogen, etc. The distillation column are designed for a distillation range of crude oil. They feed from 125,000 to 240,000 barrels a day (multiply by 42 for gallons). They weren’t designed to feed lower rates. The systems are huge, and provide furnaces providing millions of BTU’s.
People who know not, shouldn’t be allowed to make demands or create laws dealing with complex systems, especially a refinery!
Well, as many of us have been saying a lot of these ideas are half thought out. Most likely indeed more studies are needed. Are you ready to buy a new car to use biofuel?
Actually you don’t. I can run bio diesel in my 2007 dodge.
Since when can any level of government determine the products of a company?
Isn’t that like telling Ford to make only bikes?
Isn’t that like telling a hot dog stand that they can only sell donuts?
Or is the County planning to take over the ownership of those refineries?
Sounds just like communism to me.
Which is not too surprising with this Board of Supes.
@cellophane. Agree 100%
Any candidate who claims to have the experience to become an elected official needs to be kicked out.
Look where “experience “ has put us.
A politician making decisions on technical issues?
Incredibly stupid!
All the protesting and attendance at any meetings require some method of transportation! Now with elimination of fossil fuels or the like, how is the buses /trains/planes will be fueled??
Biden and green jerks are all for eliminating fossil fuels and further development of the same! Can AFOne flap its’ wings because ole “Brandon” sure cannot walk very far and then speak at the same time!!
Newsom is all for shutting down the refineries – now where are the thousands of workers and office support going to live and on what??
SHADES OF MARXIST – we need a Bolshevik revolution — but they did not do well either!
That biofuel is crap. Just look at the problems with countries like Brazil. It is notorious for incomplete combustion. In other words it is more polluting than the engineered fuels we have now. Mother Nature has already manufactured plenty of stored energy for millions of years. Our current technologies are very limited to methods of refinement. If the biofuels were the best they would have been phased in at least 40 years ago or more. What they don’t tell you is rather simple and straight forward. Gas tanks rust out much faster due to the humidity and condensation of bio. The fuel systems will gum up and clog much faster, due to incomplete combustion. The fuel pumps will definitely go out much quicker. And being in the Industry for more than 40 years I can share the empirical data. I have seen people time and time again fuel up with the completely wrong fuel and ruin their car immediately.