Existing law requires a refinery-related community air monitoring system to be installed near each petroleum refinery that meets certain requirements. Existing law requires the owner or operator of a petroleum refinery to develop, install, operate, and maintain a fence-line monitoring system in accordance with guidance developed by the appropriate air quality management district or air pollution control district. Existing law requires the air districts and the owners or operators of refineries to collect real-time data from those monitoring systems, to maintain records of that data, and, to the extent feasible, provide to the public those data in a publicly accessible format.
This bill would extend the above requirements to refineries engaging in other types of refining processes, including those using noncrude oil feedstock, and to auxiliary facilities and would require the refinery-related community air monitoring system and the fence-line monitoring system to be installed on or before January 1, 2026, and after a 30-day public comment period.
The bill would also:
- Require the monitoring systems to monitor certain pollutants identified by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment;
- Require the air districts and the owners and operators of refineries to maintain records of the data collected from those systems for at least 5 years and would require the owners and operators to post online, and to notify the public of the availability of, quarterly reports containing certain information;
- Require owners and operators of refineries to notify the air district and the public, as provided, as quickly as possible of any exceedances of the lowest available reference exposure levels set by the office.
- Require the owners or operators of refineries, within 24 hours of a fence-line monitoring system detecting an exceedance, to initiate a root cause analysis and to determine appropriate corrective action;
- Require the owners or operators of refineries to conduct third-party audits of its fence-line monitoring system to ensure the accuracy of the system. Because the bill would impose additional duties on air districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Full bill text and related information.
