Newsom vetoes bill seeking to tighten refinery-adjacent air monitoring rules

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Monday vetoed a bill aimed at tightening air pollution monitoring provisions for so-called fence-line zones that mark the perimeter of oil refineries.

“While I share the author’s desire to protect communities from air pollution, local air quality management districts are already carrying out the necessary action to do just that,” Newsom said in his veto message.

The bill in question, SB 674, would have updated air monitoring protocols for fence-line zones to include facilities beyond petroleum refineries and would require these sites to maintain records of data collection for at least five years.

Refineries included under the bill’s provisions would have been those that produce gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation fuel, biofuel, lubricating oil, asphalt, petrochemical feedstock and other similar products, per the legislation.

These facilities would have been subject to third-party audits, quarterly reports and mandates to complete root cause analyses within 24 hours of any incident.

State Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez (D), who sponsored the bill, described Newsom’s veto as “a devastating blow to the years of hard work and advocacy by communities affected by refinery air pollution,” according to a Monday statement.

“Fenceline communities urgently need improved air monitoring, and it shouldn’t be this difficult to establish a system that provides them with the most basic necessities — transparency and information about the toxic chemicals being released into their neighborhoods,” Gonzalez said.

A press release from the state senator’s office touted the bill’s ability to establish a statewide air monitoring standard, which could have ensured that best practices were being used to prevent dangerous outcomes in these areas.

“I am deeply disappointed by this outcome, but we cannot walk away from this issue,” Gonzalez added. “Our communities demand and deserve stronger protections.”

Oscar Espino-Padron, a senior attorney for Earthjustice’s community partnerships program, said in a statement that he viewed the veto as “a missed opportunity to enact meaningful change that could have saved lives and improved public health.”

In his veto message, however, Newsom criticized the bill for requiring districts that already have air quality management programs “to implement highly prescriptive measures.”

Such requirements, he explained, could end up necessitating state reimbursement of costs amid a $44.9 billion budget shortfall for the fiscal 2025.

“There is no state funding identified or available in the state budget to support these efforts,” the governor added.