1998 ANNUAL REPORT
Refining

Alternative NOx Compliance Plan Hurt by Court Decision: Bay Area District Denies WSPA Proposal

Undeterred by an adverse ruling from a California Superior Court judge, WSPA continued to work with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) and downwind air districts to advocate a realistic alternative compliance plan to reduce transport of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from Bay Area refineries to downwind areas of the state.

The court decision came in a WSPA/Chevron suit alleging that the BAAQMD did not take the latest science into account when approving its 1997 Clean Air Plan revision. The alternative plan was developed as part of the settlement negotiations and crafted as a creative and cost-effective solution that would have produced twice the expected NOx reductions as the current refinery NOx rule and provided them sooner in the areas that needed them the most.

WSPA’s advocacy effort resulted in the alternative compliance plan gaining acceptance by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) as meeting the transport mitigation requirements of the California Clean Air Act. It also resulted in the recognition by downwind air districts that the alternative plan has merit and that it deserved further exploration to ensure that all goals associated with NOx reductions are achieved.

However, on September 30 the BAAQMD Executive Committee rejected the WSPA proposal without review of its merits due to self imposed resource limitations. Significant delays resulting from the District’s unwillingness to consider the alternative compliance plan in a timely manner resulted in its failure to be considered for implementation.

Although the alternative compliance plan could not be successfully implemented due to BAAQMD inaction, WSPA and its member companies will continue to promote the use of the best available science in all regulatory activities and creative, cost-effective and flexible control strategies.

Public Concerns about Refinery Operations Explored
WSPA’s Bay Area External Affairs Committee undertook a polling effort to develop a detailed understanding of community issues and concerns regarding refinery operations in Contra Costa and Solano Counties. This initiative stemmed from industry‘s desire to maintain a high level of trust and credibility with community neighbors. These efforts have intensified due to recent industrial incidents and the capitalization on these incidents by political, agency, union and environmentalist interests.

The overall goal was to understand the "true" community concerns and relative intensity of those concerns. Recommendations based on the polling results are being evaluated for potential implementation in 1999.

Making the "Good Neighbor" Ordinance Workable
WSPA members worked successfully with labor and the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors this year to introduce a potential replacement to the so-called "Good Neighbor" ordinance passed in 1996. The original industrial safety ordinance attempted to introduce the California Environmental Quality Act into the routine permitting process, generating leverage for special interests to hold up the permitting process to gain concessions from the permit requestor. The replacement ordinance focuses on safety issues and is scheduled for board adoption early next year.

Progress Registered on Accidental Release Prevention, Community Notification at State, Local Levels
At both the state and the local levels, WSPA and its member companies made gains this year in addressing concerns over accidental releases of hazardous materials.

WSPA’s Process Safety Management Group, for example, worked closely with the California Office of Emergency Services to encourage the California Accidental Release Prevention (CalARP) program to adopt regulations that balance the operational needs of the petroleum industry with the need to provide the public with important accidental release risk management information. WSPA worked in coordination with administrating agencies statewide to produce effective guidelines and materials for implementing the CalARP program. They included recommendations for the preparation and content of risk management plans required by the CalARP, guidance for seismic evaluations of process equipment and development of simplified registration materials.

Water Issues Get High Priority
Efforts to revise the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board’s basin planning process as well as the state’s Enclosed Bays and Estuaries Plan have kept Bay Area refiners busy in 1998. These efforts along with added attention to the California Toxics Rule have caused WSPA and its members to develop technical responses on such issues as discharge standards, load allocations, dilution and listing procedures for impaired bodies of water, among others. In addition, WSPA played a leadership role in the Regional Monitoring and the Bay Protection and Toxic Cleanup programs. These efforts collect data for use in determining the long-term health of the Bay and in identifying and remediating toxic hotspots.