WHY CALIF NEEDS ITS CLIMATE LAW

Study targets 5 South Bay refineries for negative health effects
Melissa Pamer, April 14, 2010 (Daily Breeze)

"Five refineries in the South Bay and Harbor Area top a list ranking the negative health effects created by California's greenhouse gas emitters, according to a report…focused on the state's closely watched global warming law.

"['Minding the Climate Gap: What's at Stake if California's Climate Law Isn't Done Right and Right Away'] argues that while the state works to reduce greenhouse gases throughout California, it should take into account air pollution at the local level - particularly in poor and minority communities that the authors say are disproportionately affected by emissions from oil refineries, power plants and cement facilities."

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"Produced by [professors and researchers from USC, Occidental College and the University of California, Berkeley, it]…points to the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance, along with polluting facilities in the Harbor Area and Carson, as sites that have an effect on health and are broadly surrounded by low-income and minority neighborhoods…[T]he authors are advocating for specific policies in future state regulations of carbon emissions that would ensure air in those communities is cleaned up…

"At issue is the implementation a landmark 2006 state law, Assembly Bill 32, which aims to address climate change by creating regulations to reduce greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020…Two Texas-based oil companies, Tesoro and Valero, [and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association] are funding a signature-gathering campaign to put an initiative on the November ballot that would suspend the law until unemployment falls…The authors of the new study argue implementation should not be delayed."

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"…[A previous] report by some of the same researchers…said poor and minority communities will suffer the greatest health and economic consequences of climate change…[because low-income] communities will be more affected by rising energy costs, and may be more likely to die during extreme heat waves…In the new study, the authors want to see the debate over regulation take into account "co-pollutants" …that refineries and other polluters produce along with greenhouse gases…Those cancer-causing chemicals have been de-emphasized in broader global warming rhetoric…

"The report named Torrance's ExxonMobil refinery as having the greatest health impact, followed by the Tesoro Wilmington refinery, the BP Carson refinery, Chevron's El Segundo refinery, and the ConocoPhillips refinery in Wilmington. Valero's Wilmington facility was ranked 12th…[They] were also named to a separate list…[of] the state's top 10 facilities that disproportionately impact minority communities…[T]he authors suggested strategies for implementing AB 32 that would reduce that disproportionate effect by creating incentives to cut emissions in communities with the dirtiest air…"