 Image C/O Noah Berger / Associated Press By Andrew Martinez Cabrera Associate Editor On May 2, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) requested an abatement order against Tesla’s Fremont Plant from their agency’s independent Hearing Board. The abatement order would force Tesla to “stop frequent and ongoing violations from the paint shop operations at the [Fremont] facility.”
According to their press statement, the Fremont site already possesses 112 Notices of Violation since 2019, without proper abatement. The facility is estimated to roughly emit “as much as 750 pounds of illegal air pollution” per one notice, noting that “[these] violations are frequent, recurring and can negatively affect public health and the environment.” The BAAQMD says that Tesla’s thermal oxidizer, a combustion device that destroys/converts hazardous air pollutants into CO2 and H20 before emitting them into the atmosphere, or similar abatement systems break down repeatedly. As a result, “emissions are automatically vented directly into the atmosphere without proper abatement.” Other times, Tesla would shut down these systems whenever equipment problems arose in the paint shops. According to the BAAQMD, these problems are easy to address and avoidable. In response, the Bay Area agency has requested that Tesla hire a third-party consultant who would evaluate and suggest recommendations that Tesla would then be required to adopt. The Hearing Board will have to approve their plan before Tesla fully implements its recommendations as a form of checks and balances. Independently of BAAQMD’s accusation, the nonprofit group Environmental Democracy Project, based in Oakland, filed a citizen lawsuit against Tesla for emissions. The lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of California on May 13, about two weeks after the agency’s complaint. The suit alleges that Tesla’s Fremont facility has violated the Clean Air Act. Some of the reasons mentioned above in the BAAQMD are repeated in the lawsuit, with an emphasis on worker/resident exposure to deadly chemicals from Tesla’s plant. Attached in the lawsuit is a March 4 notice from the EDP towards Tesla, Tesla Fremont’s self-reported list of violations of the Clean Air Act from January 2021-2022 with dates and descriptions, and BAAQMD’s 163 notices of violations from January 2021 to January 2024. The EDP hopes to “put an end to Tesla’s Clean Air Act violations at the Fremont Factory and penalize Tesla for its unlawful conduct, thereby deterring future noncompliance.”
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Kayaker protestors take their grievances onto the bay  Image c/o Brooke Ashton/Climate News By Anthony Romero News Reporter Five dozen climate activists sailed out in kayaks to protest the Chevron Corporation’s Richmond oil refinery. Rallying under the looming shadow of Chevron’s oil tankers, the protesters held signs that read: “Pollute no more”, “Act Now”, and “Clean air, water, and soil for all” in the hopes of bringing greater attention to the role Chevron has in the environmental and health harms in the surrounding community.
The core group organizing the kayakers is the Rich City Rays, a collective of grassroots groups dedicated to climate justice based in Richmond. The kayakers strategically gathered near the tankers docked at Chevron’s Long Wharf, California's largest marine oil terminal. Long Wharf acts as a port for tankers to unload crude oil and pick up petroleum products, ranging from lubricants and gasoline to diesel and jet fuel; the Richmond refinery processes over 250,000 barrels of crude oil. The Rich City Rays members grew up in Richmond drinking the water and breathing the air near the processing plant. “All the people that have lived in Richmond for the last 120 years have been in the shadow of this refinery,” said Alfredo Angulo, one of the group’s organizers. “They have experienced every fire event, all the benzene emissions, every oil spill.” Angulo is a first-generation Mexican-American resident of Richmond and a UC Berkeley graduate with a degree in political science. “There’s this understanding that we need to move away from oil and gas for the health and safety of our community, but also as the climate crisis strengthens and our communities are being more exposed to the negative effects of climate change, we need to move away from oil and gas to stop this climate chaos,” Angulo stated. “The world is on fire, and Chevron plays a massive role in driving the crisis.” Angulo’s, along with many of their fellow Rays members, call for activism began after a 2012 incident in which a Chevron refinery pipe carrying over 10,800 barrels of petroleum burst and sent highly flammable oil into the surrounding area, which ignited and engulfed Richmond in a dark, vaporous cloud. About 15,000 people sought medical treatment after the accident, reporting breathing problems, chest pain, asthma, headaches, and other health complications in the following weeks. Twenty individuals required hospitalization. Angulo and the Rich City Rays hope to highlight the fossil fuel industry’s disproportionate effects on the environment, communities, and neighborhoods of color. For this reason, kayakers could be seen waving the flags of Ecuador, Myanmar, and Palestine to protest Chevron’s international reach. Another goal of the Rays is community engagement, encouraging Black and Latino youth to participate in a water sport like kayaking, an activity they historically lacked access to. In a statement, a spokesperson for the company stated that Chevron respects the right of individuals to protest peacefully and that the oil conglomerate’s Richmond branch remains dedicated to safely providing essential energy to the Bay Area.  Image c/o Beth LaBerge/KQED By Edith Cuevas News Reporter The family of a Navy veteran who died in 2020 while in police custody has settled a federal lawsuit with the city of Antioch for $7.5 million. Angelo Quinto was suffering from a mental health crisis when a police officer pressed a knee to his neck for five minutes.
The lawsuit alleged that the responding officers of the Antioch Police Department used excessive force when attempting to restrain Quinto. According to the East Bay Times, Quinto’s death was initially ruled accidental, with the pathologist deeming the cause as “excited delirium”. This term has been primarily associated with cases that involved police force. According to NBC Bay Area, the Quinto’s family attorney stated during a deposition that the term “excited delirium” is a phony cause of death. It wasn’t until after pressure from the Quinto's family attorney that a second autopsy was performed, and asphyxia was determined to be the cause of death. Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton decided not to file criminal charges against the officers involved in the restraint. According to NBC, county prosecutors alleged that Quinto was under the influence of drugs and that he died from the disputed excited delirium syndrome. Since his death in 2020, the Quinto family has been active in calling for police reform. The family has had success in creating the City of Antioch’s first mental health response team. The City of Antioch also adopted a police oversight committee composed of 7 citizens of the city.  Image C/O Andrew Burton / Getty Images By Andrew Martinez Cabrera Associate Editor Over the weekend, the California Democratic Party (CADEM) held an Executive Board meeting in San Diego to discuss which measures will appear on the ballot this November. CADEM’s Resolution Committee provided the Executive Board with various resolutions and recommended the “California Democratic Party to take the following positions.”
Resolutions supported include Assembly Constitution Amendment 1 (ACA 1) which would require 55% voter approval rather than a two-thirds approval for special taxes and bonds. Lowering the voter threshold would allow for easier approval of special taxes and bonds “for affordable housing and public infrastructure projects.” Also supported by CADEM was the ACA 5, which seeks to amend outdated language in the California Constitution, originally only recognizing marriage between a heterosexual couple. ACA 13, like ACA 1, similarly deals with voter thresholds in which any adopted measure would only be approved if the number of votes “is equal to or greater than the highest voter approval requirement that the initiative measure would impose.” Awaiting eligibility but still supported include an initiative to add a one-semester finance course as a high school graduation requirement, permanent funding for Medicare services, the expansion of local governments’ “authority to enact rent control on residential property,” and the raising of the state minimum wage from $15 to $18. Opposed by the California Democratic Party include an increase in felony charges for drug possessions and theft crimes, restrictive rights for transgender youth, and eliminating employees' ability to file lawsuits for monetary penalties concerning state-labor violations.  Image c/o AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File; AP Photo/Artie Walker Jr., Business Insider By Jenevieve Monroe News Editor Almost five months into the year, Americans are seeing a tight race in popularity between Presidential candidates. A recent poll released by the Siena College Research Institute shows a nearly perfect divide between Americans: “Trump now leads Biden 46% to 45% among registered voters, a decline from February's 48% to 43% lead.” This stark divide in voting behavior has left many Bay Area residents uncertain about what the next year holds. But are these concerns reflected throughout our student body? The Collegian conducted its own poll to gauge the political views of eligible voters on campus. The result?  Nearly 57% of students polled intend to vote for President Biden this fall. As for the former president, only 3.6% of students surveyed intend to vote for Trump. These results indicate our campus to be highly Democratic, but do these values reflect the same voting behaviors of college students nationwide? Current polling data has been both limited and mixed on this question. A recent report from Best Colleges shows former president Trump to be leading amongst college voters by 2% more than Biden. So no, Saint Mary’s students are not experiencing the same kind of partisan divide as other college campuses across the country. We are not experiencing the same partisan divide that is evident throughout the East Bay; just recently, an article was released explaining how local election workers fear for their safety due to an influx of fraudulent election related threats. One may wonder why Saint Mary’s is an outlier to these trends. Student responses to this poll varied, but most respondents were concerned about the campus culture surrounding fall’s election. One student views this election to be more consequential than any presidential election in history, claiming former President Donald Trump to be “a threat to our country and democracy.” Another expressed their dissent against a culture of ageism that has allegedly attached itself to the Biden campaign. “ I am fully confident that Biden can serve four more years and stories of his senility are simply ridiculous bias against him.” Other students have expressed hope for more civic engagement on campus next semester. One student was uncertain about when voting for the presidency occurred.  Students were also asked whether their chosen candidate reflected their ideological values. Surprisingly, the majority of respondents felt that their candidate was only partially representative of their own beliefs. One student expressed these frustrations as consequential to our two party system. “Neither candidate is strong and… truly reflective of their party as a whole. It’s unfortunate that both parties didn’t really give room for other voices to be heard (with the DNC never holding any presidential debates and the RNC proclaiming Trump as the nominee before all the major primaries could take place).”  Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy (Independent) has also been making some waves amongst student voters. Some respondents believe his candidacy offers promising policy changes for their future. “He’s a staunch environmentalist and has pledged to make homeownership easier, which is a big concern for me as someone who currently rents. I don’t want to be a renter all my life and have my life, in part, dictated by landlords and unjust rent prices.” This respondent views Kennedy to be the only presidential candidate who has advocated to make housing more affordable.
You may be wondering why anyone should care about this data. Eligible voters can now reflect on the views of their peers and determine whether their own values are represented at this campus. Make your voices known by practicing civic engagement at Saint Mary’s and mobilizing for your beliefs. We’re five months in with six more to go: that’s a lot of time to make change.  Image c/o KRON4 By Madison Sciba Editor-in-Chief A bill currently making its way through the California legislature has its sights set on ending third-party identification companies at TSA in California airports. These third-party identification companies, such as CLEAR, allow people to skip the line at security, and even jump ahead of those who already have TSA precheck. Anyone can get this “skip the line” pass. Well, anyone who is willing to pay $189 a year for the service.
Anyone who has flown out of Oakland airport knows that the TSA line can be atrociously long, and watching the CLEAR people cut the line can be infuriating. California lawmakers are proposing that companies like CLEAR should set up their own form of security, in addition to TSA, because it is unfair that those who cannot pay are being forced to wait while those who do pay are able to jump the line. Travelers at SJC worry that this will cause airfare to go up, and wait times at security will increase. Although passengers familiar with SJC know that the quickest way to get through security is to go through regular TSA as PreCheck and CLEAR usually have longer lines. Airlines are also concerned about the bill, as they are worried that it will cause more delays and missed flights because passengers with services like CLEAR use it to expedite the TSA security process. However, it should be noted that major US airlines, such as United, Delta, and Alaska, have already partnered with CLEAR |
StaffMadison Sciba '24, Archives
May 2024
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