State Backs Bay Area Emission Caps

In what may signal a significant shift in the regional political power struggle to put absolute emission caps on Bay Area oil refinery emissions including greenhouse gases, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has announced it supports a proposal by local environmental groups, including 350Marin and 350 Bay Area, to do just that.   This is the proposal that our groups and allies have been pressing to be adopted by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) for many years now, but which has only recently started to gain traction with the BAAQMD Board.

Undoubtedly, actually putting such regulations in place, making sure they’re enforced, and keeping them from being undone, will require continuous citizen involvement and pressure on our representatives to counter oil company lobbying and legal threats. However, just as the job remaining shouldn’t be underestimated, neither should the potential victory if the Bay Area becomes the first region in California, within the United States, and possibly worldwide, to decisively limit the ability of oil refineries to continuously increase their pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.   Read more details on the policy shift by the Air Resources Board HERE.