By Ed Tannenbaum, “Eyes on ConocoPhillips” blog

“The investigation is not complete. There will be a 30 day report. Questions remain; what caused the overfilling (of the substance that caused the fire)? Was there another bad level sensor like the one that caused the sour gas tank explosion, or was there a faulty valve position sensor like the one that caused the huge flaring a couple of months ago, or operator error?  And WHY wasn’t the phone system activated?”

Stay tuned!

Thank you, Ed Tannenbaum, blogger at “Eyes on ConocoPhillips” for yet another great post.     http://crgna.org/blog/2015/08/coker-fire-72-hr-report/

So….P66 tells the public it can do fine fighting fires by itself and manages to get its property taxes dramatically cut, a move that will eventually pull the rug from out under the closest Rodeo Fire Station.  And then yesterday, it uses the Rodeo Fire Department for help fighting the coker fire.

By Ed Tannenbaum, Eyes on Phillips 66 blogger and long-time local activist

http://crgna.org/blog/2015/08/fire-up-the-irony-machine/

Or in the case of the Rodeo refinery…it even comes free

Updated 8/4/2015

Does the scene below, on the left, look familiar? 

The coker that was on fire this past Sunday was the same coker unit that caught fire last year.  No statement has been released to the press to date about the fire’s cause or why it happened two years in a row.

2015:     …and 2014: 

(Short article about safety alert: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Hazmat-officials-respond-to-report-of-Rodeo-6420660.php)

For many residents in the fenceline community, it was “deja vu all over again.” Despite news reports published later in the day that stated a shelter-in-place advisory had been lifted, no emergency siren was ever sounded nor was the “advisory” sent to the residents through the telephone alert system (this is a system that alerts folks with medical issues and are otherwise considered sensitive responders.) The “advisory” was quietly posted on the County’s website 2 hours after the fire started.  The time code of that County posting was 14.47 (almost 5 o’clock).

For many, this brought back memories of the deliberate and illegal Catacarb release by the same refinery of over 20 years ago.  P66 told no in the community about the odorless, poisonous release.  The County issued no warnings or advisories for 16 days.

Will this affect P66’s proposed Tar Sands/Propane Expansion project?

The coker that caught on fire (2 years in a row) is the same unit that is directly connected to the Nipomo/San Louis “front half” of the refinery via pipeline. This unit will be heavily involved in the receiving and processing of the Canadian Tar Sands, should P66 be allowed by the courts to go forward with its propane expansion project.

Both P66 and the Contra County are defendants in this case.  The plaintiffs are Communities for a Better Environment, Rodeo Citizens Association and SAFER, a worker safety group.

Pictured above:  Hazmat technicians appear to be taking air sample data with hand-held units from the area near Selby Slag, down the road from the fire.  This photo was taken at shortly before 5, around the same time as the “post mortem” health advisory was posted on the County website.

By Giles Parkenson, Australia

The $25 billion Saudi power company ACWA Power announced that the cost of solar technologies are falling so quickly that within a few years the combination of solar PV and solar towers with storage will be able to compete directly with base load fossil fuels.

In reaction to the news, the director general of the International Renewable Energy Agency, Adnan Amin, said that ACWA’s winning a bid for a for 200MG solar farm out in the desert was a “seismic” event.   As for those who question the idea of cost parity between renewables and fossil fuels, Amin said:

“If they think that, then they need to wake up and smell the coffee.”

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/saudi-power-giant-sees-solar-taking-on-base-load-fossil-fuels-57218

Pictured above, left to right:  Paddy Padmanathan ACWA power company and Adan Amin, director of the International Renewable Energy Agency.                         Below: What the mega solar power reserve in the middle of the desert will look like.

The Santa Barbara City Council voted 5-2 to write a letter urging that San Luis Obispo reject an application by Phillips 66 to expand the railroad spur at its Nipomo refinery.   In drafting a letter, Santa Barbara joins a list of 40 cities and other governmental entities along the coast in opposing the oil train rail spur.

One of the most persuasive arguments that led to the decision: the bomb train blast zone map, showing 16 schools, many parks, a municipal golf course and City Hall.

http://www.independent.com/news/2015/jul/29/santa-barbara-says-no-oil-train/

One of the biggest banks in the Middle East and the oil-rich Gulf countries says that fossil fuels can no longer compete with solar technologies on price, and says the vast bulk of the $US48 trillion needed to meet global power demand over the next two decades will come from renewables.

The report from the National Bank of Abu Dhabi says that while oil and gas has underpinned almost all energy investments until now, future investment will be almost entirely in renewable energy sources.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/even-at-10barrel-oil-cant-match-solar-on-cost-37540

BENICIA (KRON) — Activists protesting the threat of crude oil transporting trains were detained Monday morning as they attempted to hang a 60-foot banner in front of the Benicia-Martinez railroad bridge.

The banner read “Stop Oil Trains Now: Are You in the Blast-Zone.org.”

Activists say the move was part of a plan to kick off a week of action with some 80 scheduled events in opposition to oil trains across the US and Canada.

You know what’s scary?  This bridge, slated to bear the weight of most of the heavy oil trains coming to California refineries, was built in the 1930s and has not been retrofitted to our knowledge.

http://kron4.com/2015/07/06/protesters-against-oil-trains-detained-at-benicia-martinez-rail-bridge/

In California, as more and more crude arrives by rail, more people will find themselves within the “blast zone,” a one-mile evacuation area recommended by the U.S. Department of Transportation. As a report released Tuesday finds, California’s “blast zone” lands squarely on the shoulders of people of color.

For the complete story:  http://grist.org/news/in-california-people-of-color-are-dangerously-close-to-oil-train-disasters/?utm_source=syndication&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed

In just five years, the cost of generating electricity from wind turbines has fallen 58 percent, while the cost of solar power has plunged a breathtaking 78 percent, the Advanced Energy Economy Institute reported in a study that came out this week.

It costs less now to get new electricity from wind turbines than from generators fueled by nuclear power, coal, or natural gas. Utility-scale solar power costs less than nuclear and, in most cases, competes favorably with coal and natural gas, even before federal incentives are added.For story, go to:  https://medium.com/natural-resources-defense-council/a-triple-play-for-progress-52c33372bdb8

One fourth of the Netherlands is below sea level.

Hailed by Dutch press as a “landmark legal case,” this lawsuit was the first European example of a group of citizens attempting to hold a government responsible for inefficient climate policies, and the first time that existing human rights laws have been the basis of a case.

Last month, the court agreed with the citizens organization and ruled in their favor.

No court in the world has ever directly ordered a government to cut carbon emissions, and it its believe by many that this could have implications far beyond the Netherlands.

Dennis van Berkel, an attorney with the Dutch environmental group, Urgenda

http://www.npr.org/2015/06/25/417349227/the-dutch-ruling-on-climate-change-that-could-have-a-global-impact

An April 2015 story outline the history of the upcoming case:

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/14/3646690/pass-that-dutch-climate-change-action/