On March 27, 2014, Earthjustice, on behalf of several
environmental and conservation groups, filed a lawsuit against the Bay Area Air
Quality Management LLC (BAAQM) for issuing a permit allowing North Dakotan
Bakken crude oil to be transported to refineries in the San Francisco Bay
area, The environmentalists argue that the BAAQM issued the permit
without any notice or public process, without considering the “well-known and
potentially catastrophic risk to public health and safety” as evidenced in the
Lac-Mégantic, Québec train derailment in July 2013, and without complying with
the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
The environmentalists contend that, in labeling the permit
request as “ministerial,” the BAAQM ignored “the risks of derailment and
accidents, risks of explosions, increased release of toxic air pollutants,
increased greenhouse gases from further train travel, and increased noxious odors.”
The groups assert that these impacts from the issuance of the permit should
have been publicly disclosed, analyzed and mitigated in an Environmental Impact
Review (EIR). They point to the already-heavily polluted community where
the rail yard is located and to California’s inadequate and aged railroad
infrastructure.
The environmental groups seek a declaratory
judgment and preliminary
injunction to set aside the permit, to require full compliance with the
CEQA , and to enjoin crude-by rail operations under the permit until an EIR is
complete and subject to public scrutiny.
This post was written by Barclay Nicholson (barclay.nicholson@nortonrosefulbright.com or 713.651.3662) from Norton Rose Fulbright's Energy Practice Group.
