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Big West lobbying to speed up expansion approval
| Tuesday, May 6 2008 6:37 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 7 2008 7:21 AM
As public controversy swirls over its proposed refinery expansion, Big West of California now faces another hurdle.
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Companies receive air pollution credits when they voluntarily reduce polluting emissions beyond the level required. Credits can be redeemed to offset the pollution new projects will produce.
The credits may be banked or sold to other companies.
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The Big West of California refinery on Rosedale Highway is seeking to expand its operations. Three Central Valley lawmakers voiced their support for the expansion in a letter submitted to The Californian Monday.
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A ticking clock.
Citing a November deadline to use its multi-million dollar air pollution credits, refinery officials have asked to bypass the county planning commission review of its project and go straight to county supervisors for approval.
“We’ve just asked the county to please understand the schedule,” said Big West Health, Safety and Environmental Director Bill Chadick.
Big West’s project has been stalled for more than a year after county planning staff deemed an environmental impact report on the project insufficient. The approval process is expected to restart in June but will likely stretch into November under normal approval procedures.
Normally the planning commission would vote on the project and the Board of Supervisors would take up an appeal of that decision. But an appeal is guaranteed because of mounting opposition, so Big West argues the issue should go directly to supervisors.
County zoning ordinances allow circumvention of the planning commission in certain situations. But project critics object to use of the provision in this case, saying a refinery expansion requires a full vetting by the planning commission and public.
“This is such an important issue. To bypass the planning commission and the public input that (process) would provide would be very unfortunate,” said Betsy Ramsey, spokeswoman for Bakersfield Citizens Against Hydrofluoric Acid, a group opposed to the refinery’s plans to use modified hydrofluoric acid in its new operations.
There’s another reason the planning commission should weigh in on the issue first, said Gloria Smith, a San Francisco-based attorney representing unions who work at the refinery, residents who live nearby and a valley clean air group.
“This isn’t a time-wasting mechanism. The county planning commission has expertise that the Board of Supervisors does not have,” Smith said. “They’re the ones that do the heavy-lifting and analysis on all aspects of the project.”
Losing the pollution credits could impact the feasibility of the expansion, refinery officials say, because new credits are expected to become scarce and skyrocket in cost following a review this November of how the San Joaquin Valley’s pollution credit bank compares with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards.
Refinery officials have approached county supervisors and Kern County Planning Director Ted James in recent weeks about speeding up the process.
James, who would make the final decision on expediting the process, said Monday it’s premature to consider Big West’s request now.
Supervisor Mike Maggard, who represents the district in which the refinery is located, said he hasn’t taken a position on the expansion but he doesn’t support skipping the planning commission’s role in the approval process.
“The timing is very unfortunate and I commiserate with the refinery, but that doesn’t mean the public gets disserved by the process,” Maggard said.
The refinery isn’t the only company that could lose its air pollution credits. Industries throughout the San Joaquin Valley are nervous about their credits being devalued this fall, said Leonard Scandura, a permit services manager with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.
The air district issues pollution credits to companies that take polluting equipment offline or install new equipment with pollution controls that exceed current requirements. The credits can then be used to offset pollution increases from future projects that exceed state and federal clean air limits. Companies can also sell their credits to other companies.
However, each year, the air district must show the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that its offset requirements are equivalent to EPA’s offset requirements. In past years, the district has been able to make this demonstration, but district officials don’t expect that to happen this year for a pollutant called nitrogen oxides due to power plants and other large industrial projects built in the past year, Scandura said.
After this year’s review, the district anticipates those pollution credits will only be worth about 5 to 10 percent of their current value.
Big West owns about 458 tons per year of nitrogen oxides credits. This fall, the credits’ worth could drop to between 20 and 45 tons per year. Big West needs 70 tons per year of credits to offset increased pollution from their expansion.
Smith, the San Francisco attorney, said the pollution credit problem raises new concerns about the project.
“Air districts do have inflated credit accounts and it’s not good policy for (companies) to get in there and take advantage of what could be a flawed account,” she said. “I believe the air district should freeze all (new projects that require credits) until they get an accurate view of what the credits are.”
Big West says it won’t put up a fight to bypass the planning commission and speed up the approval process but it will do what it can to get the project approved by November.
“We’re down to the wire and it’s become an extremely serious issue,” Chadick said.