Real estate | Is that this East Bay refinery housing development a model for remediating contaminated sites?

HERCULES – On the surface, Victoria by the Bay is a captivating neighborhood of 926 homes just a brief walk from the shores of San Pablo Bay.

It was replaced by a plan to convert the contaminated “derelict” land right into a housing development, accomplished in 2003 – a vision of homes with coastal views and preserved green spaces that required extensive remediation of the soil and groundwater that existed there three years had been polluted for a long time.

Now officials in Contra Costa County are wondering whether Victoria by the Bay may very well be a model for the changing energy and housing needs of other communities.

A growing variety of refineries across the country have done so closed in recent times, as many states transition away from fossil fuels — equivalent to California's ban on sales of latest gasoline cars inside the decade — and exorbitant costs are required to modernize often century-old equipment and infrastructure. Some petroleum processing plants have begun converting to biofuels to scale back greenhouse gas emissions – and avert the specter of closure and demolition – but for a lot of the long run is uncertain.

There are 4 refineries still operating in Contra Costa County: the Marathon Martinez Refinery, Chevron Richmond Refinery, Phillips 66 in rodeo and that Martinez Refining Company.

On Monday, the county's Sustainability Commission, which advises implementation of the county's climate motion plan, took a better have a look at Victoria by the Bay as a possible test case that officials can study to guide future cleanup projects, if those refineries are included getting closed.

Mike Moore, the commission's chairman, said the project provides local insight into the tremendous collaboration required to bring state, county and city laws into compliance, along with the necessities and testing of a spread of environmental agencies.

However, on Monday Commission meeting It also became clear that there isn’t a universal plan for the transformation of those industrial properties.

Little is thought concerning the potential long-term health, safety and financial risks related to remediation and rehabilitation projects. Commissioners Shoshana Wechsler and Norman Cohen specifically asked how the county can ensure continued monitoring of toxicity levels in neighborhoods like Victoria by the Bay, in addition to the complete extent of cancer diagnoses amongst residents over time – questions that currently don’t have any clear answers gives.

“I think we have a confounding influence on the age of refineries – not just how long they have been in operation, but also the technology on which they were originally based, so each one can have different characteristics in terms of soil contamination.” Cohen said. “It's great that they were able to fix this (Pacific Refinery), but we need to know more to compare apples to apples.”

It took several years to scrub up the previous Pacific Refinery site, which the Hercules City Council sold to Hercules LLC, a subsidiary of Catellus Development Corp., in March 1997 for $4.7 million.

Under the guidance of agencies equivalent to the Regional Water Quality Control Board and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which removed greater than half one million kilos of hydrocarbons from the property by July 2000, crews cleared soil, vacuumed toxic fumes and filtered groundwater Order recordings.

This work was considered accomplished at the tip of 2001 – almost three years after the renovation plan was first approved.

The list of shuttered refineries in California has only grown in recent times.

In August 2022, Phillips 66 Company incorporated in San Luis Obispo asked district officials for permission to demolish and renovate its Santa Maria refinery plant ceased operations at 2555 Willow Road in Arroyo Grande until January 2023. 714 pages Draft environmental impact report for this extensive process was published last month and shall be available for public review until May sixth.

As Phillips 66 prepares permits and approvals, it continues to be unclear how expensive this multi-year process shall be or what kind of development — if any — will use this soon-to-be-vacated space.

That's why some members of the Sustainability Commission discussed asking Gov. Gavin Newsom's office to assist implement concrete rules, regulations and policies if one among the county's refineries closes, along with working with organizations which have a plan for one to work out a just transition for most of these businesses.

Chuck Leonard, who sits on the county board because the political representative for Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 342, stressed the necessity to begin creating a transparent plan to deal with the potential legal and financial liabilities related to the cleanup – preferably before any plans for the long run development comes about.

“It is extremely concerning when a plant closes and a refinery simply decides to go out of business,” Leonard said Monday. “What happens to a 120-year-old facility that has a hundred times more challenges than what happened right there in Hercules?”