Category Archives: Air Monitoring

Air Monitoring, Air Quality, Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), Good Neighbor Steering Committee, Progressive Democrats of Benicia, Refinery emissions, Valero Benicia Refinery

Reminder! Zoom in tonight at 7pm for an Air District panel on refinery violations and ‘community payback’

[Note from BenIndy: A quick reminder, shortened a bit from the first posting. This meeting is free and open to all, regardless of Party preference or city of residence. This should be a fascinating discussion.]

Smoke from the Valero Benicia refinery wafts over residential neighborhoods  during a 2017 incident. | Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

From Progressive Dems of Benicia Meeting Notice, sent April 2, 2024:

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), or “the Air District,” is our local regulatory agency when it comes to air pollution.  It’s been around for decades, but its mission and activities are a mystery to many.  Luckily, our amazing panel of Air District representatives will be on hand to guide us through what it does, how it does it, and what it’s working on to keep Bay Area residents healthy and safe.

Air District Panel

We are pleased to share that our panel will include BAAQMD’s Executive Officer/Air Pollution Control Officer, Dr. Philip Fine, formerly a presidential appointment to the EPA and the South Coast Air Management Quality District; Deputy Executive Officer of Public Affairs; BAAQMD Board of Directors member and Benicia Mayor Steve Young; and BAAQMD’s Community Advisory Council Co-Chair Ken Szutu, who also founded the  Citizen Air Monitoring Network in Vallejo before serving as its director.  We also expect that other staff members of the Air District will join us.

Zoom Details

Topic: PDB General Meeting
Time: April 9, 2024 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86273821941?pwd=WktDazJLaTJHVTBPNWd3dzlXaGd2Zz09
Meeting ID: 862 7382 1941
Passcode: 528756

 

One tap mobile
+16699006833,,86273821941#,,,,*528756# US (San Jose)
+16694449171,,86273821941#,,,,*528756# US

For more information, check out the Progressive Democrats of Benicia’s website.

Air Monitoring, Air Quality, Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), Good Neighbor Steering Committee, Progressive Democrats of Benicia, Refinery emissions, Valero Benicia Refinery

Benicia Dems hosting Tues., Apr. 9 Air District Zoom panel on refinery violations and ‘community payback’

[Note from BenIndy: This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from Air District insiders what the District does, how it does it, and what might be next. This is a free public meeting open to all, regardless of party preference or city of residence.]

Smoke from the Valero Benicia refinery wafts over residential neighborhoods  during a 2017 incident. | Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

From Progressive Dems of Benicia Meeting Notice, sent April 2, 2024:

Dear members and supporters—

We’re delighted to share more information about our April 9th meeting at 7pm, which we revealed last week will focus on the quality of our air – a hot topic given the warming weather and the recent Level-3 Incident at a local refinery. (The picture here is not from that incident, it is from a 2017 incident; click the image to be redirected to a YouTube news report.) 

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), or “the Air District,” is our local regulatory agency when it comes to air pollution.  It’s been around for decades, but its mission and activities are a mystery to many.  Luckily, our amazing panel of Air District representatives will be on hand to guide us through what it does, how it does it, and what it’s working on to keep Bay Area residents healthy and safe.

Air District Panel

We are pleased to share that our panel will include BAAQMD’s Executive Officer/Air Pollution Control Officer, Dr. Philip Fine, formerly a presidential appointment to the EPA and the South Coast Air Management Quality District; Deputy Executive Officer of Public Affairs Viet Tran; BAAQMD Board of Directors member and Benicia Mayor Steve Young; and BAAQMD’s Community Advisory Council Co-Chair Ken Szutu, who also founded the  Citizen Air Monitoring Network in Vallejo before serving as its director.  We also expect that other staff members of the Air District will join us.

Zoom Details

Topic: PDB General Meeting
Time: April 9, 2024 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86273821941?pwd=WktDazJLaTJHVTBPNWd3dzlXaGd2Zz09
Meeting ID: 862 7382 1941
Passcode: 528756

 

One tap mobile
+16699006833,,86273821941#,,,,*528756# US (San Jose)
+16694449171,,86273821941#,,,,*528756# US

For more information, check out the Progressive Democrats of Benicia’s website.

Air Monitoring, Valero Benicia Refinery

Valero to host public Community Information Night tomorrow, Tues., Dec. 12, at 4:30pm

[Note from BenIndy: Benicia residents have received an invitation from Valero’s Community Advisory Panel (CAP) to learn about refinery operations and engage refinery representatives in a Q&A session at the upcoming Community Information Night. It’s imperative that Benicians who are interested in the refinery and its operations take the time to attend this rare public meeting. Please see the image below for the full ad – and, if you plan on going, be aware the meeting room can be hard to find.  Look below the ad and you will see a map we created to help newcomers get to the right place. A contact phone number and email address for this meeting are on the flyer as well. Unfortunately, there are no options to attend this meeting remotely.]

Valero’s Community Advisory Panel (CAP) invites Benicia residents to learn about operations at the Benicia Refinery

 

Read more! As Air Quality is so essential to our health, you might want to check out these resources:
Air Monitoring, Air Quality, Keeping Watch on Earth News

This replicable model for urban air quality management is a breath of fresh air

The future of clean air is collaborative 

 

Comprehensive urban air quality management sometimes feels like pipe dream, but what if we’re closer than we give ourselves credit for?  What if stakeholders – from communities, regulators, and analysts to tech and industry ‘partners’ – have already deployed a collaborative model for accurate air quality management that could deliver “democratized, hyperlocal air quality data” and ultimately help us improve the air we breathe?

Clarity, a climate-tech startup founded by a Berkeley grad, is marketing a new vision  for air quality monitoring. Using both existing and supplemental air monitor networks to provide all those stakeholders listed above with “real-time air quality data at a higher resolution,” its goal is to “[make] air quality management more accessible, cost-effective, and actionable than ever before.”

The fascinating mini-documentary above shows how London deployed over 400 “Clarity Node-S sensors” to provide “hyperlocal insights” to their population of 8.8 million. Apparently, Clarity is active in 60 cities worldwide, including Los Angeles, Perth and Singapore.

And, get this – in August 2022, the Los Angeles Unified School District installed these sensors at 200 school locations across their 710 square-mile footprint, “providing students, parents, teachers and the community with important real-time data about their local air quality.”

It’s a beautiful, well-marketed vision, and hopefully a peek into a future where communities like ours can access – and act on! – real-time insights on air quality  . . .  instead of relying on a plodding, recalcitrant, polluting industry to provide that data in a clear, reasonable and timely way.

Check out the video, it came recommended by a trusted resource. To be clear, we have received no compensation for posting about this, nor did we coordinate with Clarity in any way. This is just cool news worth sharing.