Posted on 08/21/2007 7:46:43 AM PDT by SmithL
California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who sued San Bernardino County for failing to factor greenhouse gas emissions in its general plan, is turning his attention to Contra Costa County and its two refinery- expansion proposals.
Brown has submitted critical comments to Richmond planners as part of the city's environmental analysis of a Chevron project and appealed the county Planning Commission's approval of a ConocoPhillips Rodeo refinery upgrade on the grounds that it has failed to mitigate the impacts on global warming.
The attorney general personally called all five members of the Board of Supervisors, who will vote on the appeal, and met in San Francisco last week with Supervisors Gayle Uilkema and John Gioia, who sit on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
Brown, who could not be reached for comment, has also scheduled a meeting this week in Contra Costa County with local union leaders whose members work in the refineries.
"We want clean air, but we also want jobs," said Contra Costa Building and Construction Trades Council Director Greg Feere.
In the series of phone calls, supervisors say the attorney general explained his concerns about adding more pollutants into the air at the same time the state has signed a new law, AB32, that calls for a reduction by 2020 to 1990 levels of carbon dioxide emissions that scientists say contribute to global climate change.
But Brown's personal interest is making county officials nervous that it will lead to a costly legal showdown over greenhouse gas rules that regulators haven't written yet. The law requires the state to adopt the regulations by Jan. 1, 2011.
Brown not only sued San Bernardino County, but he is also flexing his legal muscle from San Diego to Orange County to Sacramento on planning efforts for everything from housing and new roads. The attorney general's interventions even factored in the state budget stalemate as Republicans sought to squash Brown's global warming campaign.
Contra Costa officials, who oversee one of the state's largest concentrations of oil refineries, say they want to comply with AB32. Oil refineries are responsible for roughly 5.6 percent of Bay Area greenhouse gas emissions.
"We are caught in a quandary," said Supervisor Uilkema, past chairwoman of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. "The standards have not yet been established. What I don't want to have happen is grandstanding because our county would become the target of some negative impressions. We are very serious about air quality."
In the meeting with Brown last week, Uilkema said she suggested levying an interim fee that would fund an emissions reduction program administered by the air district.
Board Chairwoman Mary Piepho of Discovery Bay said she is urging ConocoPhillips to negotiate a deal with the attorney general before the matter comes to the board for a vote on the appeal.
"I have asked for a way that the refinery could commit today to coming into AB32 compliance when those standards are known," Piepho said. "No one wants a lawsuit. They are costly and time- consuming, and they very often end up in a compromise anyway."
ConocoPhillips proposes to expand and modify its Rodeo refinery to produce cleaner-burning gasoline and ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels, and increase production by 30 percent to 1 million gallons a day.
The environmental report said the expansion would generate 1.25 million metric tons of greenhouse gases per year from its fuel production facilities, hydrogen and electrical generation plants.
Brown's appeal states that the county, as required under the California Environment Quality Act, failed to evaluate specific mitigation measures that would ameliorate the impacts of the added emissions.
A ConocoPhillips spokesperson could not be reached, but Contra Costa County's environmental document notes that the company has signed up with the voluntary California Climate Action Registry. The six-year-old registry tracks greenhouse gas emissions and allows firms to establish baseline levels for purposes of future compliance with AB32.
The Chevron refinery expansion includes replacement of its hydrogen and power plants, a new catalytic regeneration unit plus a plethora of upgrades that increase its production capacity by 6 percent.
In Brown's comments to Richmond officials, the attorney general argued that the lack of specific AB32 thresholds for greenhouse gases is erroneous because public agencies are required under state environmental law to evaluate and mitigate for significant impacts.
Chevron spokesman Dean O'Hair called it premature to judge the outcome of the environmental review process.
"We're right in the middle of the process, and it's completely appropriate to have people making comments during the response period," O'Hair said. "By the time it is completed, we expect it will be adequate in terms of the law, and we expect to fully address the issues."
MONDAY: AG Jerry Brown prevents refinery expansion.
TUESDAY: AG Jerry Brown launches investigation into high cost of gasoline...
You took the words right out my mouf!..............
Somebody needs to tell Jerry he ain’t governor no more.........
Jerry Brown is a typical Liberal moron. That fact was proven years ago and the morons in CA elected him again.
“Jerry Brown is a typical Liberal moron.”
True but in this case just doing his job. The CA legislator passed a law that Arnold the fool signed making green house gases part of any E.I.R..
We have several laws that directly oppose each other signed by our governor.
BTW, no budget yet out here.
They must like him, or at least 50.00001% do...........
6-quart douchebag...
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