Grantee Research Project Results
2023 Progress Report: Community Health and Air Quality Implications of Refinery Retrofits and Retirements (CHAIRS)
EPA Grant Number: R840563Title: Community Health and Air Quality Implications of Refinery Retrofits and Retirements (CHAIRS)
Investigators: Cushing, Lara , Morello-Frosch, Rachel , Bilsback, Kelsey
Institution: University of California - Los Angeles , University of California - Berkeley , Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers for Healthy Energy
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: June 1, 2023 through May 31, 2026
Project Period Covered by this Report: June 1, 2023 through May 31,2024
Project Amount: $1,125,000
RFA: Drivers and Environmental Impacts of Energy Transitions in Underserved Communities. (2022) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Health Effects , Watersheds , Endocrine Disruptors , Environmental Engineering , Environmental Justice , Air Quality and Air Toxics , Air
Objective:
The U.S. is the world’s largest producer and consumer of oil, and petroleum refineries are among the largest point sources of criteria and hazardous air pollutant emissions in California (CA). A quarter of existing CA oil refineries have announced plans to transition to biofuel production in response to changing market conditions and the state’s ambitious goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions. However, it is not clear whether transitions to biofuel production will result in better air quality and health in neighboring fenceline communities. The Community Health and Air Quality Implications of Refinery Retrofits and Retirements (CHAIRS) project leverages the natural experiment afforded by a recent refinery closure, state-of-the-science air quality modeling, and a unique ambient air pollution monitoring dataset to quantify the impacts of refinery emissions on air quality and community health in the San Francisco Bay Area and compare present conditions to alternate scenarios of refinery retirement and biofuel conversion. Our overarching goal is to quantify and widely communicate the air quality and health implications of a transition from oil refining. Our objectives are to 1) utilize the 2020 closure of the Marathon Martinez refinery as a natural experiment to quantify the impacts of oil refining on preterm birth and healthcare utilization; 2) model the air quality, health, and health-related economic impacts of retiring the four operational oil refineries in the San Francisco Bay Area and compare them to alternative scenarios of retrofit to biofuel production; and 3) advance community organizing and policy advocacy through the engagement of community members and advocates in study design and results dissemination and a web-based interactive tool to inform future petroleum refinery conversion or retirement.
Progress Summary:
We have established a community advisory committee of recognized community, environmental justice, and labor leaders with experience working with Northern California oil refinery communities and policy or organizing expertise related to just energy transitions. We have completed an initial review of scientific studies of refinery-related health studies and analysis of local ambient air quality concentrations surrounding the Marathon Martinez refinery to inform our study design for Objective 1. We have reviewed the retirement and retrofit scenarios we will model for Objective 2 in consultation with our community advisory committee. We have also begun setting up our chemical-transport modelling architecture; activities have included validating our approach for modelling meteorological conditions and compiling the emissions and initial and boundary conditions datasets that we will utilize as model inputs. Outcomes include a list of previously documented adverse health conditions in communities living adjacent to oil refineries that we will use to select which health conditions to focus on in Objective 1 and a community-informed modelling framework to assess the health impacts of possible future refinery retirement and retrofit scenarios.
Future Activities:
Year 2 will focus on finalizing our analysis of adverse birth outcomes surrounding the Marathon Martinez refinery and publishing our review of epidemiological studies of community health surrounding petroleum refineries. We aim to complete chemical-transport modelling of San Francisco Bay Area refinery retirement and retrofit scenarios at a minimum of 4 kilometers resolution toward the end of year 2 in order to complete our health-impact assessment in year 3. We will additionally finalize the datasets and metrics that will be included in the national refinery visualization webtool and develop a prototype in consultation with our community advisory committee.
Supplemental Keywords:
environnemental justice, GIS, energy transitionProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.