The Bay Area Air District (the District) is seeking public comments on the February 24, 2026 concept paper outlining a proposal to repeal Regulation 12, Rule 15: Miscellaneous Standard of Performance Refining Emissions Tracking (Rule 12-15) and establish a new refinery fenceline monitoring rule. While no draft regulatory language has been proposed, the concept paper outlines a potential restructuring of refinery emissions tracking and fenceline air monitoring requirements based on the District’s Rule 12-15 implementation experience and evolving statewide reporting programs.
Existing Rule 12-15 Requirements
Rule 12-15 was adopted in 2016 and amended in 2021 and 2022 to improve transparency, enhance emission tracking, and support broader refinery oversight programs. Under the current rule, refineries are required to:
- Conduct real-time fenceline monitoring for specified pollutants and make the data available to the public. Refineries must maintain a District approved Fenceline Air
- Monitoring Plan (FAMP) and Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) for establishing and operating their fenceline air monitoring systems.
- Prepare and submit annual emissions inventories.
- Prepare monthly crude slate reports and make reports available for to the District during an inspection or audit.
Since adoption, statewide reporting requirements and fenceline air monitoring technology have evolved, and the District has gained experience and knowledge in refineries. This has led the District to propose conceptual regulatory updates to Rule 12-15.
Conceptual Plan
The District is proposing to repeal Rule 12-15 and concurrently adopt a new, dedicated refinery fenceline air monitoring rule (Rule 12-17). The District is not proposing to adopt a new or revised refinery-specific emissions inventory rule or retain the crude slate reporting requirements currently in Rule 12-15.
Fenceline Monitoring
The District has identified gaps in Rule 12-15 fenceline monitoring requirements that limit the program’s ability to fully achieve its core objectives. Rule 12-17 would be a new, dedicated refinery fenceline air monitoring rule. The District outlined several key topic areas under consideration for inclusion in Rule 12-17. A summary of the major topics is provided below:
- Applicability
- Extending Rule 12-17 applicability to refinery support facilities and operations, such as hydrogen plant, sulfuric acid plants, steam, or electric generating facilities, loading racks, bulk storage terminals, and marine terminals.
- Fenceline Air Monitoring System Design
- Requiring monitoring of specific pollutants and meteorological parameters. The District is considering requiring the following 18 priority pollutants identified by OEHHA’s Analysis of Refinery Chemical Emission and Health Effects report published in March 2019: acetaldehyde, ammonia, benzene, 1,3-butadiene, cadmium, diethanolamine, formaldehyde, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen sulfide, manganese, naphthalene, nickel, nitrogen oxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide, sulfuric acid, and toluene.
- Rule 12-15 currently requires a facility’s system to cover populated areas within one mile of the facility that are likely to be affected by emissions based on representative meteorological measurements. The District is considering potentially requiring complete or near-complete perimeter monitoring.
- Requiring specific fenceline monitoring methods (i.e. open-path analyzers or point analyzer or a combination of both methods)
- Discontinuing the ground level monitoring (GLM) program.
- Real-Time Notifications
- Notifying the public of elevated pollutant concentrations in real-time. The District is considering establishing pollutant specific notification thresholds and a method and frequency for notifications that balances timely communication with data validation considerations.
- Root Cause Analysis and Corrective Action
- Requiring facilities to investigate elevated concentrations and take steps to prevent repeated occurrences. The District is considering how elevated pollutant concentrations should be tracked over time and how corrective actions should be tracked and evaluated.
- Independent Audits
- Potentially requiring third party audits. The District is seeking feedback on the scope and frequency of audits, appropriate audit standards or frameworks, qualifications of third-party auditors, and processes for addressing audit findings.
Emissions Inventories
The District has stated that it is not currently proposing a new or revised district rule to replace Rule 12‑15’s emissions inventory requirements. Instead, the District would rely on existing California Air Resources Board (CARB) programs, including:
- The Regulation for the Reporting of Criteria Air Pollutants and Toxics Air Contaminants (CTR Regulation)
- The Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (MRR)
The CTR Regulation became effective on January 1, 2020, four years after the development of Rule 12-15, and has the same objectives as Rule 12-15’s criteria air pollutants and toxic contaminants emission inventory requirements. The CTR also significantly expands on data reporting requirements compared to Rule 12-15. Rule 12-15’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventory requirements are addressed under CARB’s MRR program. Therefore, the CTR Regulation and MRR programs eliminate the need for Rule 12-15’s emissions inventory requirements. The District intends to remove Rule 12-15 emission inventory requirements to reduce redundancy and streamline reporting. In addition, to support implementation of the CTR Regulation, the District plans to develop guidelines and other resources.
Crude Slate Reporting
The District determined during their review of reported crude slates and emissions data that the crude slates at Bay Area refineries have not significantly changed since 2016, when Rule 12-15 was adopted. Therefore, the District is proposing to remove the crude slate reporting requirement and rely on existing data sources, such as combustion and improved emissions inventory data, to assess changes in emissions over time.
Refinery Impacts
The District’s conceptual plan to repeal Rule 12‑15 and establish Rule 12-17 could result in significant changes for the Bay Area refineries and potentially their supporting facilities. Potential changes are summarized as follows:
- Refineries would no longer be required to complete monthly crude slate reports.
- Refinery support facilities may be subject to Rule 12-17.
- Rule 12-17 could have increased public visibility, including real-time notifications for elevated pollutant concentrations.
- Rule 12-17 could require the monitoring of additional pollutants and meteorological parameters.
- Rule 12-17 may require subject facilities to complete root cause analyses and implement corrective action and undergo third party audits.
Timeline
The District is accepting public comments on the concept paper and conceptual updates through April 3, 2026. Public comments can be submitted through email at [email protected] or by mail. The District plans to release draft Rule 12-17 language in Q2 or early Q3 of 2026. The District aims to present the proposed actions and rules to the District’s Board of Directors in early 2027. Concurrently, the District will release draft CTR implementation guidelines for public review and comments. Interested parties can review the concept paper and additional documents when they become available on the District’s website.
If you would like to discuss the potential updates to Rule 12-15 and how they may impact your facility please contact Stephen Cao and/or Emily Wen in Trinity’s Oakland office or call 510.285.6351
