Refinery operators challenge air board's ethanol mandate: oil industry seeks two-year extension of deadline.California's oil industry--including the operators of six refineries in L.A. County--is challenging the state Air Resources Board's aggressive mandate requiring all gasoline gasoline or petrol, light, volatile mixture of hydrocarbons for use in the internal-combustion engine and as an organic solvent, obtained primarily by fractional distillation and "cracking" of petroleum, but also obtained from natural gas, by sold in the state to contain at least 10 percent ethanol ethanol (ĕth`ənōl') or ethyl alcohol, CH3CH2OH, a colorless liquid with characteristic odor and taste; commonly called grain alcohol or simply alcohol. by 2010. Back in June, the air board enacted the standard as part of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's strategy to move toward a lower carbon fuel standard. Schwarzenegger said that requiring the ethanol blend would improve air quality and reduce the state's dependence on foreign oil. Refineries that don't meet the deadline must fund other pro grams to reduce the number of highly polluting pol·lute tr.v. pol·lut·ed, pol·lut·ing, pol·lutes 1. To make unfit for or harmful to living things, especially by the addition of waste matter. See Synonyms at contaminate. 2. vehicles on the state's roads or face penalties. But the Western States Petroleum Association, the trade group representing California's oil interests, says this mandate is unrealistic and has filed a petition with the air board seeking to extend the deadline at least an additional two years. And, in an ironic twist, the association is citing the need to comply with other environmental regulations as the chief reason for not being able to meet the 2010 deadline. "We're not asking the board to change the new fuel specifications," said Cathy Reheis-Boyd, chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. for the trade association. "But our companies need a reasonable time frame to build the required facilities given the lengthy process to comply with numerous state and local regulations." Complying with the California Environmental Quality Act The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is a California law (California Public Resources Code section 21000 et seq.) passed in 1970, shortly after the Federal Government passed the National Environmental Policy Act. and obtaining permits for changes to refining refining, any of various processes for separating impurities from crude or semifinished materials. It includes the finer processes of metallurgy, the fractional distillation of petroleum into its commercial products, and the purifying of cane, beet, and maple sugar facilities can take more than four years for each facility, she said, noting that it took 51 months to meet a 1996 mandate to formulate cleaner-burning gasoline. L.A. County is home to six major refineries, including BP plc's Carson refinery, Chevron Corp.'s El Segundo El Segundo (ĕl sēgŭn`dō), industrial city (1990 pop. 15,223), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1917. Its products include navigation and computer systems, aircraft parts, office machines, telephone apparatus, and refinery and the former Shell Oil refinery in Torrance that was acquired earlier this year by Houston-based Tesoro Corp. Pipeline and distribution terminal operators that blend fuels could also be impacted. The air board has 30 days to respond to the trade association's petition, which was filed on Aug. 10. |
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