Public Comments March 25-31, 2016 PART 1
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R5 Commenter Date Received Organizations Safe Fuel and Energy Resources California 30-Mar-16 Communities for a Better Environment 30-Mar-16 Individual Comments Arlene Van Craeynest 29-Mar-16 Elizabth Lasensky 29-Mar-16 Chihoko and Richard Solomon 29-Mar-16 Diane Bolman 29-Mar-16 Marjorie Xavier 30-Mar-16 Carol Warren 30-Mar-16 Phil Serna,County of Sacramento Supervisor 30-Mar-16 Sara Greenwald 31-Mar-16 Identical Comments "Public Comment re Valero Crude by Rail Project - Appeal Application No. 16PLN-00009" 3/25-3/31/16 1062 Commenters (list and sample comment attached) Identical Comments - With Modifications "Public Comment re Valero Crude by Rail Project - Appeal Application No. 16PLN-00009" 3/25-3/31/16 Elizabeth Fisher Jan Summers Jan Tache David Gates Rachel Broadwin May O' Brien Milton Bosch Christine Jones Ellen Gachesa Sharon Morris Mark Garcia Matthew Reid Linnea Fronce Theodora Crawford Molly Brown Valero Benicia Crude by Rail Project State Clearinghouse #2013052074 Use Permit App. 12PLN-00063 3. Among other assignments, I served as an expert for CBE and other non-profit groups in efforts to prevent pollution from oil refineries, to assess environmental health and safety impacts at refineries, to investigate alternatives to fossil fuel energy, and to improve environmental monitoring of dioxins and mercury. I served as an expert for CBE in collaboration with the City and County of San Francisco and local groups in efforts to replace electric power plant technology with reliable, least-impact alternatives. 4. I have served as an expert for CBE and other groups participating in environmental impact reviews of related refinery projects, including, among others, the “Contra Costa Pipeline Project,” the “Phillips 66 Propane Recovery Project,” the “Shell Greenhouse Gas Reduction Project,” the “Chevron Richmond Refinery Modernization Project” and the “WesPac Pittsburg Energy Infrastructure Project” in the County of Contra Costa, and the “Phillips 66 Company Rail Spur Extension Project” now pending before the County of San Luis Obispo. My work as an expert for CBE and other non- profit groups in a 2007–2008 review of the proposed Chevron Richmond refinery “Hydrogen Renewal Project” was cited by the Appeals Court in support of CBE’s subsequent successful advocacy regarding that proposed project ( See CBE v. City of Richmond 184 Cal_Ap.4 th ). 5. During 2014 I served as an expert for the Natural Resources Defense Council in research on the effects of changes in oil feedstock quality on refinery air emission rates, specifically, on estimating toxic and particulate emissions from U.S. refinery cracking and coking of low quality, bitumen-derived “tar sands” oils. 6. As part of CBE’s collaboration with the refinery workers union United Steelworkers (USW), community-based organizations, the Labor Occupational Health Program at UC Berkeley, and environmental groups, I serve as an expert on environmental health and safety concerns shared by refinery workers and residents regionally. In this role I serve as CBE’s representative in the Refinery Action Collaborative of Northern California, and as an expert for CBE and other groups in the development of refinery emission control rules to be considered for adoption by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. 7. I serve as one of CBE’s experts supporting informal state-level climate and energy planning discussions with California State agencies and the Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown. In this capacity I participated in meetings organized and attended by Expert Report of G. Karras 2 Appeal to Council and EIR Valero Benicia Crude by Rail Project State Clearinghouse #2013052074 Use Permit App. 12PLN-00063 Governor Brown’s senior advisors on 12 July 2013 in Oakland, California, and 13 April 2015 in Sacramento, California. 8. I authored a technical paper on the first publicly verified pollution prevention audit of a U.S. oil refinery in 1989 and the first comprehensive analysis of regional oil refinery selenium discharge trends in 1994. From 1992–1994 I authored a series of technical analyses and reports that supported the successful achievement of cost-effective pollution prevention measures at 110 industrial facilities in Santa Clara County. I authored the first comprehensive, peer-reviewed dioxin pollution prevention inventory for the San Francisco Bay, which was published by the American Chemical Society and Oxford University Press in 2001. I authored an alternative energy blueprint, published in 2001, that served as a basis for the Electricity Resource Plan adopted by the City and County of San Francisco in 2002. In 2005 and 2007 I co-authored two technical reports that documented air quality impacts from flaring by San Francisco Bay Area refineries, and identified feasible measures to prevent these impacts. 9. My more recent publications include the first peer reviewed estimate of combustion emissions from refining lower quality crude oils to be based upon data from U.S. refineries in actual operation, which was published by the American Chemical Society in the journal Environmental Science & Technology in 2010. I authored a follow up to this national study that extended this work with a focus on California and Bay Area refineries, which was peer reviewed and published by the Union of Concerned Scientists in 2011. I authored and presented invited testimony regarding inherently safer systems requirements for existing refineries that change crude feedstock at the U.S. Chemical Safety Board’s 19 April 2013 public hearing on the Chevron Richmond refinery fire. I authored a research report, published in January 2015, on the results of work I conducted for the Natural Resources Defense Council on estimating toxic and particulate emissions from U.S. refinery cracking and coking of bitumen-derived “tar sands” oils. 10. My curriculum vitae and list of publications were provided to the City of Benicia with my previous comment in this matter. Please see the “Supplemental Technical Comments of Communities for a Better Environment regarding the Valero Benicia Crude by Rail Project (‘project’)” dated 15 September 2014, which I authored, for this information. Expert Report of G. Karras 3 Appeal to Council and EIR Valero Benicia Crude by Rail Project State Clearinghouse #2013052074 Use Permit App. 12PLN-00063 Scope of Review 11. I have reviewed the project called the Valero Benicia Crude by Rail Project (“project”) and the project’s Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”), including the draft EIR (“DEIR”), revised draft EIR (“RDEIR”) and final EIR (“FEIR”) documents, and have previously provided expert comment in this matter. 1 I reassert my previous comments as they remain relevant and were not addressed in the EIR. The Planning Commission decided not to approve the land use permit for the project and decided not to certify the EIR on 11 February 2016. Valero Refining Company (“Valero”) appealed these Planning Commission decisions to the City Council on 29 February 2016. (See the “Appeal of Planning Commission Resolution No. 16–1, Denying Use Permit Application 12PLN-00063 and Declining to Certify Final Environmental Impact Report for the Valero Benicia Crude-by-Rail Project [SCH #2013052074]”; letter from John J. Flynn III, Nossaman LLP to Lisa Wolfe dated 29 February 2016 [hereinafter “29 Feb letter”].) 12. Valero’s appeal asserts conclusions regarding factual issues that were addressed by my previous comments. It asserts that: “All of the public discussion about the Project has focused on the impacts of rail operations.” (29 Feb letter at ¶ 1.A.) Then it asserts the project will not result in any change to refinery emissions. (29 Feb letter at ¶ 1.D.) Then Valero asserts that “the only significant unmitigated Project-related environmental impacts result from rail operations.” (29 Feb letter at ¶ 3.D.) Valero then concludes that “environmental review of Valero’s Project has been exhaustive.” (29 Feb letter at ¶ 4.) As to that assertion (Id .), among other things, Valero specifically disputes the Planning Commission’s findings that the EIR failed to disclose and evaluate project changes in the refinery’s crude slate, air quality impacts, and climate impacts sufficiently. (29 Feb letter at ¶ 3.D parts 9, 13.b, 13.c, and 14.) 13. My review of the project, EIR, and Valero appeal reported herein is focused on the assertions made by Valero in its appeal to the City Council that are identified in the paragraph directly above. My opinions on these matters and the basis for these opinions are stated in this report. 1 See the “Supplemental Technical Comments of Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) regarding the Valero Benicia Crude by Rail Project (‘project’) Draft Environmental Impact Report (‘DEIR’), Use Permit App. 12PLN-00063, SCH #2013052074, by Greg Karras, Senior Scientist, 15 September 2014.” Expert Report of G. Karras 4 Appeal to Council and EIR Valero Benicia Crude by Rail Project State Clearinghouse #2013052074 Use Permit App. 12PLN-00063 The Appeal Misrepresents the Project Review 14. The assertion that “[a]ll public discussion about the Project has focused on the impacts of rail operations” 2 is inaccurate and misleading. Goodman and Rowan (2013) showed that the project could change the refinery’s crude slate. 3 Fox (2013) showed this could cause significant impacts from refining operations. 4 By 1 July 2013 at least eleven groups, including CBE and the refinery workers union United Steelworkers (Local 675), sought full disclosure and analysis of the changes in refinery oil feedstock and emissions that could result from the project. 5 The EIR identified this potential for project-driven 6 changes in its crude slate to cause impacts in the refinery as an “area of controversy.” Fox (2014), 7 Pless (2014), 8 Karras (2014), 9 Fox (2016), 10 Pless (2016)11 and others 12 commented in detail on the EIR’s failure to evaluate these and other refining impacts of the proposed project.