Environmental Groups Sue Tosco Oil Refinery for Dioxin Violations

Seeking to protect San Francisco Bay and people who fish it for food from
toxic pollution, Communities for a Better Environment and San Francisco
BayKeeper filed suit in federal court in San Francisco today alleging
severe, ongoing dioxin pollution violations by the Tosco refinery near
Martinez. Tosco's own tests show that dioxin levels in its waste discharge
to the Bay routinely and dramatically exceed its discharge limit. The suit
also alleges that hundreds of violations occurred since 1995, and
violations will continue if Tosco does not take action.

"Enforcing the law against Tosco's violations is a necessary step toward
ending this severe toxic health threat to families who fish for food," said
Greg Karras of Communities for a Better Environment (CBE). "We had to do
the same thing before to stop refinery selenium dumping, and now we need to
zero out deadly dioxin."

"Our right to bring an enforcement action means that Bay Area residents do
not have to sit idly by while Tosco and other dischargers further
contaminate our Bay and community," said San Francisco BayKeeper Program
Director Jonathan Kaplan. "Tosco should figure out how to get its dioxin
dumping down to zero."

CBE and BayKeeper's enforcement action follows actions by U.S. EPA,
Region 9 concerning dioxin pollution of the Bay. In May, EPA listed the entire Bay
and portions of the Delta as impaired by dioxin, which poses a threat to
local anglers. In November, EPA informed the state's Regional Water
Quality Control Board that it should make Toscos dioxin limit even more stringent,
by prohibiting Tosco from taking a credit for diluting the dioxin it
discharges into the Bay. EPA suggested that a zero dioxin discharge might
eventually be needed to protect the Bay. According to recent state tests, Tosco emits from its smoke stacks at least 20 times more dioxin than it is allowed to discharge to the Bay even under its existing Clean Water Act limit. CBE and BayKeeper believe eliminating dioxin in Tosco refinery processes is the most practical, cost-effective way to protect the Bay.

In August, 1998 CBE and BayKeeper successfully settled nearly identical
lawsuits against Tosco, Unocal and Exxon, cutting the largest source of
selenium pollution in the Bay by more than 90%. Refiners had denied
causing significant selenium pollution of the Bay, and sued the Regional Water
Board to forestall enforcement by that agency, before the groups' legal action
led to the clean-up.

Dioxin is a useless by-product of industrial processes involving chlorine,
and the most toxic group of synthetic chemicals known. A major study
released by CBE in September, 1998 documented dioxin contamination of San
Francisco Bay fish at levels that result in high risk of cancer,
endometriosis, diabetes, and childhood learning problems in subsistence
anglers and their families.

For more information contact: Greg Karras, CBE: 415/ 243-8373 ext. 206;
Anne Simon, CBE: 415/243-8373 ext. 306 (cell 415/336-4601); Jonathan
Kaplan, S.F. BayKeeper: 415/ 561-2299 ext 14 (cell 415/ 235-9803); Leo OBrien,
S.F. BayKeeper: 415/561-2299 ext. 12. Richard Drury, CBE: 415/243-8373 ext. 201.

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