Ericka Cruz Guevarra: I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to the Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. Regulating big oil can be hard. They’ve got hella money and lawyers to throw around. But this week, the local agency responsible for regulating air quality in the bay announced an agreement that requires the Chevron refinery in Richmond and the Martinez Refining Company to drastically reduce the bad stuff they let into the air, making it one of the strictest air pollution regulations in the country.
Ted Goldberg: This is a pretty significant win that, you know, I think could easily be a national headline. You know, a local regulatory agency fought back Big Oil and won.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Today I talked to KQED, Ted Goldberg, about why regulators are calling this a decisive victory in the battle to cut pollution in the bay.
Ted Goldberg: By July of 2026, Chevron and the Martinez Refining Company will have to reduce by a significant amount the amount of particulate matter their refineries emit into the air. At the headquarters for the Air District in San Francisco on Beale Street. Several high ranking members of the Air District brought reporters into room, basically to make this announcement and to talk about it at length.
Davina Hurt: The Air District has secured historic penalties and successfully defended our ground breaking rule six-five.
Ted Goldberg: Board member Davina Hurt, who is a member of the Belmont City Council, led the news conference announcing this historical change.
Davina Hurt: Pay unprecedented penalties and other payments of up to 138 million, agreed to measures to reduce flaring and establish a community air Quality fund that supports projects that reduce particulate matter emissions and exposures throughout the Richmond area.
Ted Goldberg: You know, health officials and advocates have really described this as dirty air. The air District, four years before the board voted on this rule, looked into how much particulate matter both of these refineries put up into the air on a regular basis. They’ve done some calculations that says around 70% of the amount of particulate matter, once this rule is complied by would be reduced. And they say that could save lives.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: And there are also fees associated with this new announcement too, right.
Ted Goldberg: Yeah. So you’re supposed to comply by July of 2026 a specifically for Chevron. If we don’t by this particular date, they’re going to have to pay millions of dollars in fines. And then on top of that, as part of this larger sort of agreement, Chevron is paying to resolve hundreds of notices of violation going back years.
Ted Goldberg: They’re also going to pay into a community fund that’s supposed to improve the lives of people who live near refineries, is focusing on air quality and health. And then they’re also going to pay, along with the Martinez Refinery Company, the lawyers fees for the legal battle that’s been going on since 2021.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Was this surprising to you, Ted?
Ted Goldberg: Yes it was. Both of the companies filed lawsuits to challenge this rule that was voted on by the board of directors in 2021, and we were gearing up for a years long fight that abruptly ended. I’ve been trying to track the court hearings. When will we have the big trial over this major pollution rule? And they kept on getting delayed over and over again. And the next one was supposed to be late this month. And so I had it on my calendar.
Ted Goldberg: Okay, we’re going to reach out to the lawyers and maybe even send a reporter to the court hearing, because this is this big dramatic moment. They’re waiting. I had no idea. And basically, you know, here we have this huge oil company, Chevron Global, you know, one of the largest energy companies on the face of the earth deciding, you know, what? We might want to just give up on this lawsuit and end this legal battle and eventually comply with this anti-pollution rule.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the backstory here, Ted, because I know many folks may have seen these refineries in Martina’s enrichment in the news because of accidents like these flaring or white ash falling from the sky in Martinez. But this isn’t what we’re talking about, right?
Ted Goldberg: No, this is a part of everyday operations for these two particular refineries. So as part of the refining process, crude oil eventually needs to turn into things like gasoline and jet fuel. There’s a lot of chemical processes that take place. One of those has to do with a major refinery component called the fluidized catalytic cracking unit. And basically, this is a part of the refinery that breaks down heavy crude oil into things like gasoline material that is sort of a byproduct of that process eventually has to be burned off. And when that is burned off, that’s when particulate matter gets sent into the air.
Davina Hurt: Greg Nudd, deputy executive officer of science and policy of the Air District.
Greg Nudd: Particulate matter causes a number of health problems, from asthma to cognitive decline to poor birth outcomes.
Ted Goldberg: And a number of other people at the district have emphasized for years that particulate matter can lodge itself into people’s lungs and contribute to significant health problems, and can lead to premature deaths.
Greg Nudd: It passes through the blood barrier and actually gets into your blood, gets into your brain. It’s definitely the most harmful air pollutant that we have. And the plume extend for miles and miles and impact over a million people. So we’re talking about people dying years before their time ticking away. Grandmas and grandpas from their families.
Ted Goldberg: In many of those communities, there are larger numbers of low income folks, larger numbers of people of color, and larger numbers of cases like asthma.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Well, I want to talk a little bit more about this rule and how exactly it’s supposed to, I guess, reduce these pollutions. Ted, what do Chevron and the Martinez Refinery Company have to do exactly in order to comply with this rule?
Ted Goldberg: Initially, the refineries were supposed to bring in a different device that they don’t have in their refinery, called a wet gas scrubber. I believe there are other refineries that have this, and that is aimed at reducing the particulate emissions that come from the refinery. That is a very expensive piece of equipment. Martina’s refining company said it was so expensive before the board voted yes on this years ago that they might have to, you know, reduce the number of jobs they have and possibly shut down.
Ted Goldberg: Now, the two refineries are working on a number of different strategies that they’ve been in. Communication with the Air District about that is essentially convince the Air District that says, okay, we can see that they’re lining out these plans, particularly in the Martinez Refining Company, and we can see that they’re reducing emissions, and they’re on their road to eventually complying with the law by mid 2026. The idea here is they’ve created some technology or installed some technology into their refineries.
Ted Goldberg: And at least at the Martinez Refining Company, they’re showing the air district, hey, look, see the numbers? They’re changing. And we think by this time we’ll be able to comply and we’ll keep showing you, you know, this data as we move forward. That was part of the agreement, especially with the Martinez Refining Company, that they will they will monitor this and that they will show the district, hey, we’re doing a great job. See how we’re complying with this law.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Coming up, what health advocates and the oil companies have to say about the new air pollution rule. Stay with us.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: What was the reaction from folks who have been fighting these refineries on this and were expecting to have a big public debate about it?
Ted Goldberg: My colleague Danielle Venton spoke to one of them.
Danielle Venton: I’m shocked, and I don’t fully understand their motives, but I’m really glad. It’s hard to believe that. I’m not sure what the reasons are, but this couldn’t be better news.
Ted Goldberg: Doctor Ashley McClure is a primary care doctor and is the co-founder of Climate Health Now, which is a nonprofit, and she is extremely happy about it.
Danielle Venton: The fact that they’re, dropping that and they’re settling this kind of I know it’s like a return to some semblance of sanity.
Ted Goldberg: Danielle also interviewed Heidi Taylor, who is a member of a new group based in Martinez that came about after an accident at the refinery in late 2022. They sort of activated and became politically active. And what Heidi said was, yeah, this is great, this is good, but we’re not going to give up and trying to keep the refinery accountable.
Heidi Taylor: You know, we do not trust the refinery. And so we want all measurements and all monitoring verified and we want it public. We want to be able to verify for ourselves what they are reporting.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: And what about the refineries? Ted, Chevron and the PBF owned refinery in Martinez? How have they responded?
Ted Goldberg: Chevron said, yes, we’ve agreed to this settlement, but they also came out and took a couple of shots at the air District in a similar fashion that they did in 2021. They said, hey, we still have problems with the way that the Air District makes rules. We find these regulations, which are the most strict in our country, to make it hard to do business here. PBF energy, which owns the Martinez Refining Company, said.
Ted Goldberg: We’ve been working on this. The district has now looked at what we’re doing. We’re all in agreement that we’re eventually going to get there, and they’re not having to pay millions of dollars in the same way that Chevron is the only monetary thing that they’re going to have to pay to the Air district is the lawyers fees. They’ve dropped their suit, and they say, we’re looking forward to complying with the law.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: I know much of this seems to have happened in in the background and out of the public eye. Ted but do we know anything about why Chevron and Martinez Refining Company decided to drop their legal challenges to this rule, instead of continuing to fight back?
Ted Goldberg: When reporters and editors like myself reached out to Chevron and PBF, we asked these questions. They’re issuing the same statement to different news organizations, and I’ve sort of just regurgitated what they’ve said. So I can only surmise why I think they might have given up on the legal effort. You know, I could guess that they thought, well, maybe this is going to last a really long time and maybe we’ll lose, and maybe that’ll be worse than, you know, just giving up our lawsuit and creating sort of a roadmap to eventually get to compliance. I don’t know. I don’t know.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Do you think, Ted, that this unprecedented win maybe lays the groundwork for more regulation of these refineries from here on out? Like, what do you think this means moving forward?
Ted Goldberg: I got the sense from the Air District news conference at Danielle Vinton attended that, you know, they feel that this is part of their mandate, you know, and it’s on their about a portion of their website that they are in charge of, of keeping the air clean. And I remember when before the board voted on this rule, many health advocates had said, you need to stay true to your mission. What I heard at the news conference on Tuesday morning was officials saying, this is our job. Y.
Ted Goldberg: Ou know, I know that board members like Davina Hurt: and others that, you know, focusing on this kind of stuff is is why they joined the board. And it’s definitely part of their rhetoric. And I don’t see them, you know, slowing down. So I would say the leaders of it certainly talk that way. I don’t know what’s coming down the pike for like, you know, the next refinery pollution rule. This is a pretty significant win that, you know, I think could easily be a national headline because a local regulatory agency fought back big oil and one.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Well, Ted, thank you so much for breaking this down. I really appreciate it.
Ted Goldberg: Any time. It’s always fun.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: That was Ted Goldberg, managing editor of news and newscasts at KQED. This 30 minute conversation with Ted was cut down and edited by senior editor Alan Montecillo. Maria Esquinca is our producer. She scored this episode and added all the tape. Thanks as well to KQED climate reporter Danielle Venton for some of the tape that you heard in this episode. Music courtesy of the Audio Network.
