Chevron Refinery Project Gets Panel’s Nod, but Residents’ Scorn
By Mike Taugher, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.
Feb. 1–A Richmond city panel that normally deals with lighting, screening and other aesthetic considerations recommended approval of a retrofit at the Chevron refinery but attached a laundry list of conditions.
The design review commission was highly critical of Chevron during a nearly five-hour, standing-room-only hearing on Thursday, but decided it could influence the project more effectively by attaching non-binding conditions than it could by recommending denial.
The project now goes to the planning commission, which can approve or reject that project. Its decision can be appealed to the city council.
Chevron wants to replace a couple of facilities in the refinery and improve its ability to purify hydrogen to accommodate crude oil with higher sulfur content. The company says the amount of crude it processes will not increase as a result of the project but that it will be able to make more gasoline that meets California’s clean air specifications.
A representative of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District told the design review committee that final estimates of the project’s impact on air quality are still being negotiated between the company and regulators.
The company says the overall effect of the project will be to reduce emissions.
The air district has scheduled a Feb. 13 meeting to discuss the project’s impacts on air quality. That meeting will be at the RRC Social Hall, 3230 MacDonald Ave. at 6 p.m.
In addition to approval from the city,
Chevron must also obtain permits from the air district and the California Energy Commission.
Read the full story in the Contra Costa Times Saturday.
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Copyright (c) 2008, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.
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