Newsom Rejects Air-Quality Monitoring Expansion for California Refineries

A bill that would have expanded California’s air-quality monitoring system to include more refineries was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who cited concerns on Monday about local control and high implementation costs in the decision. Groups supporting the bill, however, say these reasons “aren’t supported by the facts.”

SB 674, introduced by state Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), would have expanded the statewide requirement for real-time air monitoring along the fencelines of petroleum refineries to sites producing biofuel and other pollutants. It also would have required that communities near refineries, including at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond, where air quality has been notoriously poor, receive a notification when pollutants were above specified thresholds and required efforts to remedy poor conditions.

Newsom told state representatives in a letter on Monday that he could not sign the bill, writing that there was no state funding available for reimbursements to the refineries implementing the systems in the event that it might be needed. The program put the cost burden on refineries, who would have paid through a series of fees over multiple years.

Two of three air quality districts where the refineries are located, the Bay Area and South Coast Air Quality Management District, which represents Southern California, supported the bill, according to Oscar Espino-Padron, a senior attorney at Earthjustice. He said the entities would have remained “empowered to implement [its] measures and to exercise their discretion to tailor this monitoring program based on when it’s appropriate in their jurisdictions.”

“It’s really a setback, not only for air quality but also for community safety,” Espino-Padron told KQED.

“These are inherently dangerous operations that are prone to explosions and fires. Communities are being deprived of real-time data about issues that are occurring at refineries and giving them an opportunity to protect their families and take proper precautions.”

There are 19 refineries in California, all of which are located in counties that received failing grades for particulate matter pollution on the American Lung Association’s State of the Air Report Card in 2022, according to a Senate floor analysis of the now-killed bill.

This pollution, which consists of fine particles (PM2.5) and larger ones (PM10), is associated with a wide range of lung, heart and other chronic health problems.

Communities of color disproportionately live in the areas around the state’s refineries. The Senate floor analysis also stated that, on average, over 70% of people living within 5 miles of the sites are people of color.

Around Richmond’s refinery, that percentage is more than 80%.

The veto comes a week after the Richmond City Council killed a bill for the November ballot that would have proposed a tax on the Chevron refinery. Instead, city officials reached a more than $500 million settlement agreement with the company. Richmond officials said the agreement was a win in the long-standing fight to get compensation from Chevron for the effects that pollution has on the city’s residents.

While Newsom’s decision ended a two-year community effort to increase refineries’ monitoring and reporting requirements, Espino-Padron said Earthjustice would “continue to work on holding this industry accountable and ensuring that communities are protected.”

KQED’s Sara Hossaini contributed to this report.