Newsom Vetoes Bill Pushing for Expanded Air Monitoring Rules Around Refineries

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has vetoed a bill expanding air monitoring provisions for fenceline communities on the perimeter of potentially high-polluting facilities around the state.

A fenceline community is any neighborhood at risk of high levels of pollution due to their location adjacent facilities such as oil refineries, chemical factories, industrial parks, or equivalent.

In an Aug. 19 statement announcing his stance on the Refinery Pollution Reduction and Transparency Act, Newsom said that California already has some of the “most stringent refinery air monitoring and pollution standards” of any jurisdiction in the world.
Under existing laws, California petroleum refinery owners are already required to have a fenceline monitoring system that meets requirements by the appropriate air quality management district, collect real-time data from those monitoring systems, and maintain records of the data.

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