Big Oil vs. Government - Battle Brewing Over Cleaning Up Oil Refineries in Los Angeles

It felt like a nine round bout between two heavy weights.  In one corner, you had the oil industry (“big oil”) ably represented by its lobbying group, the Western States Petroleum Association.  In the other corner, you had the South Coast Air Quality Management District (“the District”), the agency responsible for cleaning up stationary sources (e.g. refineries, power plants, etc.) of air pollution in the Los Angeles region.  The venue was the Refinery Committee meeting yesterday at the District’s headquarters in Diamond Bar, California.  It was home-field advantage for the District, but big oil representatives appeared to outnumber District staff.  The meeting was called to discuss a proposed regulation to reduce the amount of sulfur oxide (“SOx”) emissions that refineries and other sources of pollution could emit in the Los Angeles region. 

The room was packed, and for good reason.  At stake is probably the most significant clean air regulation impacting stationary sources of pollution that the Los Angeles region has seen in the last five years or so.  The actual details of the proposed rule is mired in a maze of acronyms (e.g. ERCs, RTCs, SOX), but to boil it down—the rule will determine how much SOx pollution refineries and other large polluters in the region need to reduce over the next seven to nine years. One proposal on the table will require a 65% reduction in SOx emissions.  Big oil is proposing a regulation that will result in about half as much reductions of SOx emissions. Only about 12 facilities will be covered by this regulation, but these facilities are responsible for about 18% of total SOx emissions in the Los Angeles region.  This is a staggering percentage for a handful of companies (e.g. Chevron, BP, etc.) given the size and population of the Los Angeles region.    

Now, I bet you are wondering why we should care about this subject.  Well, reducing SOx pollution is extremely important because SOx leads to the formation of particulate matter.  Particulate matter has been linked to several important health ailments, including asthma, other respiratory disorders, and even premature death.  Now, that I have spewed out all my health stuff, let’s get back to what happened at the meeting. 

The meeting started out civil with a presentation from District staff, but a little later the gloves came off.  There was a lot of verbal sparring between big oil’s lobbyists and staff at the District.   The spirited discussion lasted for over two hours.  The gist of the debate was big oil claiming the District underestimated costs of compliance with this regulation.  The cost effectiveness of the regulation is important because under state law the District needs to consider cost effectiveness when setting the levels of SOx pollution that the 12 facilities need to reduce.  Peppered in the debate, big oil subtly threatened that the region could stand to lose all 5,000 jobs (direct and indirect) associated with their businesses.  My sense is that they are bluffing.

All in all, noticeably absent from the discussion yesterday was public health.  We have filthy air in the region, and we need to tell big polluters like refineries that they need to clean up their act. My colleague, Diane Bailey has blogged about the heavy burden refineries in California pose on communities.  Diane points out that "of the twelve largest greenhouse gas emitters in California, eight are also the worst actors in terms of their pollution burdens on surrounding communities disproportionately impacting people of color," including many refineries that would be forced to reduce pollution as a result of this regulation. 

The debate on the rule itself, while mired in wonky rhetoric, has immense implications for the Los Angeles region and its ability to achieve clean, healthy air.  NRDC and my colleagues at other environmental and environmental justice groups will continue to watch this battle as it develops.  Heck, I even plan to toss my gloves on and enter the ring if we feel the District is crumbling under the pressure of some of the most powerful and wealthy companies in the world.  However, for now, the District seems to be holding its ground.  But, there is a lot of time until November when the regulation is set to go to the Governing Board of the District for approval.  All in all, I hope the District stays strong.  There are too many people, including many low income communities of color in the region, dramatically impacted by harmful levels of emissions from refineries.  A win here will mean that refineries need to significantly reduce their pollution, which will be a win for those communities that have been bullied for decades by big oil.