Bay Area refineries must buy ‘fence line’ air pollution monitors

Regulators on Wednesday ordered the Bay Area’s five oil refineries to track and report air pollution on the edge of their properties and regularly update officials on the different types of petroleum they use.

Each must also file monthly reports on the types of crude oil it processes, whether that petroleum comes from California oil fields, Canada’s tar sands or Midwestern oil fields subjected to hydraulic fracturing.

The oil industry fought the rules, saying they would make the refineries responsible for air pollution coming from the trucks, trains and ships visiting each facility.

The Western States Petroleum Association, the industry’s main lobbying group in California, also argued that information on the types of crude oil used in each facility is a trade secret that the refinery owner should not be forced to divulge.