HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 12051995 - SD1 MR SD. 1
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
DATE: December 5, 1995 MATTER OF RECORD
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SUBJECT: Public Comment
The Board of Supervisors heard comments from Denny Larson,
500 Howard Street, #506, San Francisco, CA 94110, representing
Citizens for Better Environment, on the UNOCAL Audit .
THIS IS A MATTER FOR RECORD PURPOSES ONLY
NO BOARD ACTION TAKEN
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COMMUNITIES fora
B ETTM
RECEIVED
ENVIRONMENT
formerly Citizens for a Better Environment DEC — 5 1995
CLERK BOARD OSUPERVISORS
CONTRA COSTA CO-
Hon .
TO: Hon : Chairperson; Gayle Bishop
Hon . Supervisor Jeff Smith
Hon . Supervisor Tom Torlakson
Hon . Supervisor Mark DeSaulnier
Hon . Supervisor Jim Rodgers
FR: Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) , Denny Larson,
Refinery Network Coordinator
DA: December 5, 1995
RE UNOCAL ACCIDENT PREVENTION AUDIT & CBE
We remain deeply concerned that the Unocal Audit is seriously off
track on both its. sc6loe and on the issue of CBE ' s participation .
In an effort to resolve these problems CBE has offered on November
29th to schedule a meeting directly with .Unocal and County
officials to reach agreement before this issue comes back to the
Board on December 19th . As of this date, Unocal remains unwilling
to even meet or negotiate in good faith a fair resolution of
outstanding issues ,
At your last. meeting on this subject, the Board laid out three
options • for resolving the matter of CBE ' s participation . We
immediately drafted a. simple and clear stipulation that we would
not use our participation in the audit in our unrelated lawsuit on
toxic dumping in ' the Bay.- Unocal turned that into an unworkable 7.
page "draft" that would not even share ! This clearly demonstrates
bad faith on their part .
If this kind of action by Unocal continues, the Board will have to
decide on December 19th between supporting the community ori ving
into a company that repeatedly shows its lack of reasonableness
when it comes to solving accident problems .
If we can be of any assistance to you or your staff, please
do not hesitate to call• me at any time (415-243-8373) .Again thanks
for your, support and we look forward to corrtinuing to work with
you .
Sincerely,,
Denny Larson, Refinery Network Coordinator, CBE
1?-0d- 1 99S 5: 1 SPf.1 FPCr i LYP',PI PAT CHERRY SIO 799 1 SCIS
12.04%95 14-33 'U415 744 1917 US EPS REG 9 C,�jp02
Unat-0 Statas fiegional Administrator Region 9
Environmental Prvtection 75 Hawthorne Street Arizona,California
Agency San Francisco. CA 94105.3= Hawaii. N
t' G1tiC tst " RECEIVED
Environmental DEC - 5 1995
News
CLERK BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
CONTRA COSTA CO.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELE,ASE' . Decembsr 4, 1995
Contact: Lois Grunwald, U.S. EPA
(415) 744-1588
U.S, EPA CITES UNOCAL FOR SPILL VIOLATIONS
(San Francisco)--The U.S. Environmental Protection Agt-ncy
(U.S. EPA) today announced that it ha: issued a civil
administrative Complaint against Union Oil Company of Cali:'crnia
(UnQcal) , for failure to notify federal and state authorxt:.es in
connection with two releases of hazardous substances from i.heir
San rrancisco Refinery in Rodeo, Calif. in August and September
of last year. U.S. EPA is proposing penalties of $489,800.
"Releases of tzaaardous substances prase serious public health
and environmental risks, " said Keith Takata, director of tle U.S.
LPA"s Superfurd Pr.ograrr . "Businesses are obligated to
imme�diatrely notify federal, state, and local response authc.rities
when these releases occur so that. response actions can, be taak$n
to proteht the public and the environment. we will take
appropriate enforcement action against those who fail to sitet
their legal responsibility to report completely and prompt.3y. "
failure to immediately notify the proper authorities curing
and after an accidental, release of hazardous and extremely
Jazardous substances violates the Etrergency Planning and
Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA) and the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CLF.CLA) .
The facility was cited for the notification violation!
associated with the release of the hazardous substance,
diethanolamine, which b42gan on August 22 and continued until
septemLycr 6, 1994. The leak was small when it began, but daring a
i6-day p+eriQd, about 200,000 pounds of a substance called
catacarb, which contained 10, 000 pounds of diethanolamine, were
released into the air.
Gatacarb is used in the crude ail refining proce4s and waS
released through a crack which developed in a refinery tower.
ullocal was cited for failure to immediately notify the National
Response_ Center (NRC} and for failing to provide an appropriate
written follow-up report to the State Emergency Response
Commission (SERC) .
C'+'iri,rd M Ct t'rNrA Fiysar
12-04-1 99S S: 1 9PH FROF-1 LYNN ; PAT CHERRY S I O 799 1 SOS P. 3
12%04!95 14:34 0415 744 1917 ISS EPA REG 9
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Unocal was also cited for notification violations associated
With the .release of nearly 200 pounds of hydrogen sulfide into
the air, which occurred on September 15. In addition, Unocal was
cited for failure to immediately notify the NRC and the sERC, and
for .failure to provide an appropriate written follow-up repert to
the.SERC. -
immediate notification is especially vital to ensure that
emergency response personnel can properly evaluate the nature and
extent of a hazardous substance release in order to determire the
most effective response. Timely notification alse ensures`that
local citizens and health care providers have sufficient
inL-ormation to make informed decisions about protecting the
community and the environment, both before and after a hazardous
substance release_