Writing Shotgun

WHO PASSED GREENHOUSE GAS?

Dave WielengaMon. November 23
 

Oil refineries in three area cities—Carson, El Segundo and Torrance—were among the top 10 emitters of greenhouse gases in 2008 in California, according to the state Air Resources Board, which just finished tabulating the toxins in the first-of-its-kind scorecard.

In third place, the BP Refinery in Carson in 2008 passed 4,570,475 metric tons of greenhouse gases.

In fourth place, the Chevron Refinery [Yes, the people with the environmentally comforting “People Do” commercials.] emitted 3,603,446 metric tons of greenhouse gases.

In sixth place, the Exxon Refinery in Torrance let fly 2,852,374 metric tons of greenhouse gases.

Oh, and out in Redlands, the Southern California Edison’s Mountainview Power Plant came in ninth place by belching 2,697,142 metric tons of greenhouse gases.

No. 1? That’s the Chevron Refinery [Hmmm, I guess People Do-Do.] in Richmond with 4,792,052 metric tons of greenhouse gases.

The data, gathered and reported by the facilities themselves, is required under the pioneering global warming law (AB 32) signed in 2005 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. It is intended not only to shine a light on the state’s worst greenhouse gas emitters, but also to establish a baseline for a cap-and-trade program.

A separate California law requires all new cars sold statewide to reduce greenhouse emissions 30 percent by 2016.

The results were first posted late Sunday evening in the San Jose Mercury News. 

The Top 10 List

1. Chevron Refinery, Richmond: 4,792,052
2. Shell Oil Refinery, Martinez: 4,570,475
3. BP Refinery, Carson: 4,504,286
4. Chevron Refinery, El Segundo: 3,603,446
5. Dynegy Power Plant, Moss Landing: 2,962,149
6. Exxon Refinery, Torrance: 2,852,374
7. Valero Refinery, Benicia: 2,796,057
8. Tesoro Refinery, Martinez: 2,703,145
9. Southern Calif. Edison-Mountainview Power Plant, Redlands: 2,697,142
10. La Paloma Power Plant, McKittrick: 2,544,398
Source: California Air Resources Board

To see the list of industrial facilities in California and their 2008 greenhouse gas emissions, go to: www.arb.ca.gov/cc/reporting/ghg-rep/ghg-reports.htm.
For an interactive map showing the location of each facility, go to www.kqed.org/news/climatewatch

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  • Dwight K Snider
    Correct me if I am wrong!

    I’m sitting at the computer in the office work-space of my studio apartment trying to comprehend the size and weight of the green house emissions released, each year, by oil refineries in California. And, it is mind-boggling. For example, in 2008 the BP refinery in Carson alone, according to reliable sources, released a staggering 4.5 million metric tons of green house emissions. A metric ton equals 2,200 pounds.

    I now have a one-pound bag of white rice on the table next to my computer desk. Imagine fifty bags of rice in a cardboard box the size of an end table. Imagine forty-four fifty-pound end table-size boxes now stacked around my compute desk. The weight of the forty-four boxes is one metric ton. With forty-four end table-size boxes around my computer desk my studio apartment is now nearly full.

    Now try to imagine the space required for 4.5 million studio apartments, each filled with one metric ton of green house emissions.

    Remember … 4.5 MILLION metric tons of green house emissions were released in 2008 from the BP Refinery in Carson. How about all the other sources of green house emissions in California? It is truly mind-boggling!
  • Laurence B. Goodhue
    Taking this, yet another good story re pollution by the SW,--and extending it
    out into every neighborhood in the City.

    As circumstance would have it,Saturday was talking with a former airline
    pilot who is astounded by the trails on hydraulic fluid left behind by the
    City's trash trucks as they make their weekly rounds.

    Those alleys,roads,streets in close proximity to the water front areas--and
    there are more than a few--seep down into the gound--and into the water!!!

    Some enterprising reporter might do a story on the amount of such fluids
    used by our trucks---goes also to a insight into maintenance of the fleet.
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