Enviromental Impact 101 served to Richmond, CA, residents

The Chevron Richmond refinery rises behind

Chevron Research buildings

and parking structure.  In the far distance is San Pablo Bay.

by Jean Womack

In preparation for Chevron's second attempt to secure building permits for their "renewal project," the public was served its fourth and last lesson about environmental review procedures October 19, in Richmond City Council chambers at the Richmond, CA, Civic Center. 

Sponsored by the City of Richmond and advertised on the Chevron web site, the fourth presentation was titled with environmental acronyms, "CEQA 101 and new BAAQMD CEQA guidelines."  Translated, that means California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA, pronounced "see-kwa") and Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD).

The four educational public presentations were  videotaped and are available to view on the city's KCRT web site, or soon will be. The sessions provide a two-way street of information gathering, with information going from the audience to the presenters as well as the other way around. 

Following the public presentation, Chevron representative Dean O'Hair commented, "We're pleased with the extra step that the city is trying to educate us about that (EIR) process.  We hope the community has found the education to be valuable.  If they want to participate in the process, this will provide a base level for a good education about the process.  It helps people understand the standards that people have to go through to get a permit.  Our intention is to work with the city to make sure the decisions that are made are decisions based on fact."

The refinery storage tanks painted a pleasant adobe color

to blend in with the hillside.

Concerned citizen Don Gosney said that he had worked on building refineries all over the Bay Area, except not the current unit.   He worked out of the Steamfitters union.  He talked about the painting of the storage tanks on the refinery property.  "Tanks were originally painted grey.  In the 1950's, they were painted pastel colors, then off-white.  Chevron painted them brown so people couldn't see them (they blended in with the hillside).  They planted close to 100,000 shrubs and trees on their property. " 

Gosney  said that cancelling the power plant in the current project will have a significant impact on this community.  "They are going to use an inefficient power plant that has a danger of collapsing," he said.

The Richmond Inner Harbor, including storage tanks belonging

to another company, not Chevron.

The Chevron Renewal Project failed to get permits last year because of lengthy city hearings filled with rancor and debate which were followed by a lawsuit and a court decision against granting permits to the refinery, and threats from the U.S. Congress of higher and additional taxes on what was seen as too-large profits from too-high gasoline prices. 

The cultural dislike of too-large profits in a capitalist society probably stems from  the Judeo-Christian concept of overturning the money tables in the temple because of usurious practices.  This current trend has shown itself most recently in protests against Wall Street.

City and refinery both hope that the current attempt to get building permits for new equipment at the refinery, will have a happier ending than last time.

A Chevron oil tanker parked at the Richmond Long Wharf.

Behind the ship is Red Rock Island, inhabited only by birds.

In the far distance are the coast range mountains of Marin County.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA, pronounced "see-kwa") was signed into law by Governor Reagan in 1970.  The previous year, President Nixon had signed the National Environmental Policy Act.  The original CEQA just applied to public projects, like dams and bridges, but in 1973, it was extended to apply to large private industry projects like big box shopping centers and refineries.

Along with CEQA and BAAQMD came the infamous EIR (Environmental Impact Report), which could be a  six-inch thick Xeroxed document containing many pages of dry facts and statistics about the proposed project.  Before the widespread use of the Internet, the document was made available to the public in the libraries.   

The San Francisco Bay is shallow in most areas, so Bay pilots are

needed to escort the big ships into and out of the Bay.  You can see

from the striations on the rocks that they once lay on the ocean floor and were heaved up probably by volcanic action in some long ago time, so the layers are protruding at an angle.

It was a dreaded, expensive procedure to prepare an EIR.  Soon a whole  new industry of consultants sprang up to help clients prepare an EIR.  They were highly educated, experienced people such as the people teaching CEQA 101: Lynette Dias, AICP, principal at Urban Planning Partners, Inc., an Oakland-based company; and Shari Beth Libicki, PhD, Global Air Quality Practice Leader for ENVIRON, an international company.   AICP stands for American Institute of Certified Planners.  The third speaker, Henry Hilken, is the director of planning, rules and research for BAAQMD.

The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) thought

the San Francisco Bay was a place worth preserving, so they

halted all filling of the bay back in the 1960's. Continuing this

policy depends on individual ability to withstand greed.

Children are educated to value preservation of natural

resources, so they will have a future on this planet.

The EIR is supposed to describe what the proposed project location is like now and what it will be like when the project is done.  One CEQA objective is that the decision making process will consider environmental consequences.  For example, if two choices are equally attractive, the decision maker will choose the one that has the least impact on the environment.  The presentation notes state, "This does not mean that projects with significant impacts will be denied."

An example of a project with a possible significant impact is the prospect of the Richmond refinery processing heavier crude than it does now.  "Does it fall under the framework of CEQA?" Dias asked.  "Only if it falls under discretionary approval.  It doesn't, although it does affect the environment."

Few places in the world are as beautiful as the San Francisco

Bay as the fog rolls in from the ocean.  It comes in the

Golden Gate, flows past the Golden Gate Bridge and spreads out

on the bay in both directions, following the path

where the land meets the water.  When it reaches the

Berkeley hills, it rolls up the hills and spreads out to the

right and left.

She said refining heavier crude is  not under CEQA if their current equipment can handle it.  However, building a new hydrogen plant does come under CEQA.

The lead agency is the agency that makes the biggest decisions.  In the case of the Chevron Renewal Project, the lead agency is the City of Richmond.  Other local and regional agencies have input, such as the California Water Board and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Lots of people get into the act, which is why it becomes so expensive to prepare an EIR.  Key participants might be agencies with jurisdiction by law, concerned citizens and organizations, trustee agencies, project applicants, environmental consultants, and other responsible agencies like the ones just mentioned.

Henry Hilken from BAAQMD said that any stationary source of pollution is regulated by them.  Pollution caused by mobile sources such as cars and trucks is regulated by state and federal agencies.  He said that sometimes BAAQMD is a commenting agency and has no regulatory function.  They take a general role of advising cities about how they should conduct the air quality part of the EIR. 

The city sets a baseline of air quality.  A baseline means what it's like now. The part of the EIR which contains this information is called Thresholds of Significance for Stationary Sources.  It sets a baseline for air quality during construction of the project, and a goal for air quality during operations of the project once it is complete. 

Hilken said that soot is by far the most serious air quality issue in the Bay Area.  Soot is fine particulate matter.  In the chart it is identified as "pm."  The chart he referred to was not a regulation, but was a recommendation by BAAQMD.  The city was not required to adopt those regulations, but most cities did, because BAAQMD are the experts in air quality.

The Point Molate peninsula is the point of land contact for the

Richmond-San Rafael bridge, which is also called the

San Rafael-Richmond bridge, depending on which side you live.

Early in the 21st century, transparency has become a keyword  in local government.  A large variety of information is available to the public in a properly prepared EIR.  That could include aesthetics, agriculture & forestry resources, air quality, biology, cultural resources, energy, geology/soils/seismicity, greenhouse gas emissions, hazards & hazardous materials, hydrology/water quality, land use & planning, mineral resources, noise, population & housing, public services & utilities, recreation and transportation/traffic.  Little is left for the imagination.  Facts reign.

In the recent past a very large EIR was prepared for the Point Molate peninsula, as part of an attempt to establish a casino and resort area on that piece of land.  That project was opposed by  Chevron who need a buffer zone and expansion possibility on the refinery border, and also by the voters who rejected the idea of a casino on former Navy fuel depot land.  This was a big disappointment to the building trades unions whose members were looking forward to the jobs it would create.

Hilken commented on possible regulations prohibiting barbequing.  "There are regulations prohibiting wood burning on some cold winter nights when the air is still," he said.  "Fine particulates in woodburning is a much bigger source of pollution than cooking."

He said that current thought in planning is that "we want the cities to look at the air quality issue when you are building new houses near a freeway or a refinery.  The air quality district has its guidelines designed to take into account the worst case scenario, which is the highest concentration of pollution near the source.  They even have a designation of MEI, which means maximally exposed individual.#

September sunset over the San Rafael Bridge, between Contra

Costa County (Richmond) and Marin County (Larkspur Landing)

That's all for now, folks.  Until next time, I remain

your intrepid girl reporter, Jean Womack.