Category Archives: Tesoro

BAAQMD fines Richmond refinery $1.15 million for air quality violations

[Note from BenIndy Contributor Nathalie Christian: The article makes need for independent air monitoring systems abundantly clear. Refineries can’t improve on what they can’t – or simply don’t – measure. Benicia’s Community Air Monitoring Program (BCAMP) is a tremendous resource worthy of our attention, acclamation and support. To sign up for BCAMP email notifications whenever pollutants exceed exposure levels established by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), click this link. It’s wonderful that BAAQMD staff will recommend that the Air District use a portion of these penalty funds in the Richmond community to support projects to improve air quality, but unspecific promises offer impacted communities very little in terms of holding both the refinery and the air district accountable to that easily made promise. Which programs? Exactly how much of the money?]

Air District fines Chemtrade $1,150,000 for air quality violations

This photo shows the old General Chemical plant at Hensley and Castro streets in Richmond during a vapor leak on May 1, 2001. The current plant owner, Chemtrade, agreed to pay $135,000 in penalties for alleged air pollution violations occurring between 2009 and 2014. | Gregory Urqiaga for Contra Costa Times.

Faulty monitors caused an underreporting of sulfur dioxide emissions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, July 27, 2023

SAN FRANCISCO – The Bay Area Air Quality Management District announced today that it has fined Chemtrade $1,150,000 for air quality violations at Chemtrade’s sulfuric acid manufacturing plant in Richmond. The penalty resolves seven notices of violation issued to Chemtrade for violations that occurred at its facility in Richmond.

The violations primarily involved Chemtrade’s continuous emissions monitoring system, which measures the plant’s sulfur dioxide emissions to ensure the facility complies with permit limits. Chemtrade failed to properly calibrate, operate and maintain this monitoring system over an eight- year period. This caused the monitoring system to under-report sulfur dioxide emissions by an estimated 33 percent per year on average.

“The substantial financial penalties for these violations send a clear message to Chemtrade that they must accurately monitor their sulfur dioxide emissions in compliance with all air quality regulations to help protect those living in the surrounding communities,” said Dr. Philip Fine, executive officer of the Air District. “Protecting air quality and the health of Bay Area residents is our top priority.”

Sulfur dioxide can have adverse impacts on the respiratory system and contributes to acid rain. The Air District’s audit did not find evidence that Chemtrade’s sulfur dioxide emissions exceeded the facility’s permit limits. But it did find that Chemtrade’s monitoring system was unable to reliably monitor the extent of the plant’s emissions.

The Air District’s Hearing Board previously issued an abatement order that required Chemtrade to address the problems with its monitoring system in April 2022. The assessment of this $1,150,000 fine adds a monetary penalty to that enforcement response. Agency staff will recommend that the Air District’s Board of Directors consider using a portion of these penalty funds in the Richmond community for projects to improve air quality.

In addition to the problems with monitoring system, the $1,150,000 penalty also covers violations for failure to use required abatement equipment to prevent emissions while unloading railcars at the facility; failure to properly start up the sulfuric acid plant, resulting in a visible yellow-brown plume from its main exhaust stack; and failure to report required information regarding these violations. All the violations that led to this settlement have been corrected.

The Air District issues Notices of Violation when facilities violate a specific air quality regulation or rule. Violators are generally required to respond to the notice within 10 days and submit a descriptionof the actions they will take to correct the problem. These actions can include shutting down certain operations immediately or changing operations or equipment to come into compliance.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is the regional agency responsible for protecting air quality in the nine-county Bay Area.

CONTACT: communications@baaqmd.gov


SEE ALSO:

Martinez refinery fined $27.5 million for Clean Air Act violations

U.S. EPA fines Tesoro $27.5 million for violations at Martinez refinery

San Francisco Chronicle, by Joel Umanzor, April 27, 2023

Tesoro Refinery in Martinez
The Tesoro refinery stands in Martinez, California, U.S., on Monday, Feb. 2, 2015 | David Paul Morris/Bloomberg.

 

Tesoro Refining and Marketing Company, which operates a petroleum refinery in Martinez, will pay a $27.5 million penalty for violating a 2016 consent decree ordering the company to reduce air pollutants, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The company, according to Thursday’s settlement, failed to limit nitrous oxide emissions from July 2018 to May 2020, when authorities said the refinery suspended operations.

Shortly before shutting down refinery operations, Marathon Petroleum Corporation acquired Tesoro’s parent corporation and announced plans to convert the refinery from producing fuels from crude oil to renewable sources such as vegetable oil, according to the EPA.

Prior to the refinery’s operations suspension, the EPA said, Tesoro would produce approximately 161,000 barrels per day and was the fourth largest petroleum refinery in California.

Thursday’s agreement does not prohibit Tesoro from resuming petroleum refining but requires the company to install “specific air pollution control technology” to ensure nitrous oxide limits are met, according to the EPA.

As a result of mitigation, Tesoro has agreed to give up almost all of its nitrous oxide emission trading credits, according to authorities. Companies can receive these credits when they shut down certain equipment and may use the credits to offset emissions from other projects or in trades with other companies

The agreement will modify the 2016 decree while including new requirements that will apply to Tesoro if they choose to reopen the Martinez refinery as a petroleum refinery or renewable fuels plant, according to the EPA.

Reach Joel Umanzor: joel.umanzor@sfchronicle.com


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California attorney general subpoenas oil refiners

Repost from SFGate
[Editor:  See also coverage in Bloomberg, Reuters, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times.  – RS]

California attorney general subpoenas refiners on gas prices

Associated Press, Updated 2:57 pm, Friday, July 1, 2016

The California attorney general has issued subpoenas to several oil refiners to learn how they set gasoline prices, which are consistently higher in California than in most other states.

Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp. confirmed on Thursday that they have received subpoenas in recent weeks.

The attorney general is making a sweeping request for information about gasoline supplies, pricing, and maintenance shutdowns that can temporarily create shortages and increase prices, according to people familiar with the investigation. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the subpoenas.

The requests came from Attorney General Kamala Harris, a Democrat who is running for the U.S. Senate. Kristin Ford, a spokeswoman for Harris, declined to comment on whether her office was investigating.

Chevron spokesman Braden Reddall said the company received a subpoena from the attorney general’s office and would cooperate with the investigation.

Valero received a subpoena “and we will respond accordingly,” said spokeswoman Lillian Riojas.

Spokesmen for Exxon and Tesoro also confirmed the requests for information. None of the companies would discuss the matter further.

California perennially has among the nation’s highest prices for gasoline. This week, the average for a gallon of regular was $2.90 in the state compared with the national average of $2.29, according to the AAA auto club.

Some consumer advocates have charged that refiners drive prices higher by tactics such as frequent or overly long plant shutdowns.
Refineries are routinely taken offline for maintenance, and there have been longer-lasting outages after disasters such as the explosion in February 2015 at an Exxon refinery in Torrance, near Los Angeles.

Gordon Schremp, senior fuels specialist with the California Energy Commission, said 2015 saw an “extraordinary price spike in magnitude and duration in California,” which a commission advisory committee has been investigating.

“We are aware that they were doing this,” Schremp said of the attorney general’s investigation, “because off and on they’ve talked to us about what was going on with the 2015 market, important factors that can cause spikes in the markets.”

Industry officials blame high prices on California’s stricter clean-air requirements, which they say add costs and make it more difficult to import gasoline from other states when there is a price spike.
Rebecca Adler, a spokeswoman for the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, called the allegations in the subpoenas baseless.

“We are confident that nothing will come of this,” she said.

The group Consumer Watchdog has repeatedly called on Harris to investigate oil companies over California gas prices and welcomed news of the investigation.

“It’s great that we have a law enforcement official asking questions about both supplying the market and equitable pricing within the market,” said the group’s president, Jamie Court.

CREDO Action generates over 47,000 letters opposing Tesoro-Savage oil-by-rail export terminal

Repost from CREDO Action
[UPDATE – make that 67,883 letters as of midday, 12/28/5!  – RS]

Stop the Tesoro-Savage oil-by-rail export terminal

Stop the Tesoro-Savage oil-by-rail export terminal
Stop the Tesoro-Savage oil-by-rail export terminal

This week, Congress give Big Oil a huge holiday gift: lifting the four-decades-old ban on crude oil exports.1  With the ink still drying on the landmark Paris climate agreement, this is a significant setback that could promote U.S. drilling and increase carbon emissions.

That makes it more important than ever to stop the next step in Big Oil’s plans: building huge terminals to export more crude overseas, like the massive Tesoro-Savage oil train terminal proposed in Vancouver, Washington.

Tesoro-Savage would be the largest oil-by-rail facility in North America,2 shipping up to 360,000 barrels per day of crude to be burned across the world — making the project nearly half the size of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Washington officials are now taking public comments on the plan. Washington Governor Jay Inslee has shown strong climate leadership, and it’s vital to let him know that people in Washington, and across the country are standing against this project.

Stop the Tesoro-Savage oil train terminal. Click here to submit a public comment now.

Tesoro-Savage’s 360,000 barrels per day of crude would be carried across the country from North Dakota to Washington in dangerous, explosive oil trains, posing a huge risk to public safety every step of the way to the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean.

And the damage to the climate affects all of us. Once massive oil infrastructure projects like pipelines and export terminals have been built, they keep running for decades. But when we stop them, we can help keep carbon in the ground.3

In Paris, the world signaled a historic consensus on moving away from fossil fuels. The last thing Governor Jay Inslee or the United States should do is allow oil companies to hijack that agreement by keeping the world market hooked on the oil that poses an existential threat to all of us.

Speak out against the Tesoro-Savage oil train terminal before the January 22nd deadline.  Click here to submit a public comment now.

    1. Big Oil Companies Can’t Wait For Repeal of U.S. Export Ban,” Newsweek, 12/18/15
    2. Port of Vancouver Proposal,” Columbia Riverkeeper
    3. A Convenient Lie: Why Fossil Fuel Supply Matters for the Climate,” Oil Change International, 9/3/15

Send an email.

Your comment to State of Washington officials:

Please reject the Tesoro-Savage oil-by-rail terminal. The project poses serious risks to the people of Washington State, everyone living along an oil train route, and the entire country by allowing oil companies to sell more fossil fuels overseas.  Building the largest oil-by-rail terminal in North America for yesterday’s energy is the wrong path to meet today’s energy needs. This project would jeopardize Washington State’s leadership in moving away from fossil fuels and towards clean, renewable energy solutions.

Click here to send this email.