The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has issued four notices of violation to Chevron connected to Monday’s flaring episode at its Richmond refinery.
Three of the violations were for visible emissions and one was for a public nuisance violation, an air district spokesperson said Wednesday morning.
The district was notified about the flaring at 3:42 p.m. Monday. People across the Bay Area reported heavy smoke and flames coming from at least three smokestacks.
Chevron said a partial power failure caused the flaring, which is typically the burning of excess gases.
The heavy smoke triggered a Community Warning System Level 1 warning issued by Contra Costa County. The warning didn’t require any action and no one was evacuated.
The air district said Chevron reported the flaring stopped at 2:03 a.m. Tuesday.
An air district spokesperson said the investigation is ongoing and more violations may be issued.
4 comments
Violations were for visible emissions / Flaring caused by a power outage. I guess it’s better to let the refinery blow up. Why not fine PG&E ? Defund BAQMD.
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FYI: PG&E indicated the power failure was not caused by their equipment.
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That does not matter. The gas was flared so there was no explosion!
@Lou – At the time of the flaring I looked at Purple Air to see how they were getting impacted by the smoke but saw that all of the residential sensors in the area around the refinery did not have power and so were grayed out. I wondered though why the refinery did not have enough backup generator capacity to keep their operations running within safe limits. Flaring should have been a last resort.
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