"California's long-running campaign to reduce air pollution has indirectly helped create a new problem: its oil refineries produce more greenhouse gas emissions than refineries anywhere else in the country."
"On average, California refineries emit 19 to 33 percent more greenhouse gases per barrel of crude oil when stacked up against comparable gas-producing regions in the United States, according to a recent study commissioned by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The report analyzed national and California-specific refinery data and combined it with data gathered by author Greg Karras, who has been studying and writing about refinery operations since 1989.
California began mandating cleaner burning fuel than the rest of the nation in the mid-1990s, in an effort to combat some of the worst smog levels in the country and meet federal clean air rules. That spurred oil refiners to expand their facilities and install technology to remove more pollutants like sulfur, so car tailpipes would spew out less of it.
In the last decade, however, oil refineries have begun processing heavier and dirtier types of crude oil, including Canadian tar sands oil, which requires more cleaning to meet California's standard. And that extra cleaning means that plants use more energy and emit more CO2."
Ngoc Nguyen reports for New America Media/InsideClimate News March 28, 2012.
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