Bay Area

Mar 25, 2023 – BCN21:SAN JOAQUIN CO.: PORT OF STOCKTON ORGANIZES TO CLEAN OUT SEVERAL TONS OF TRASH AT ROBERTS ISLAND

The Port of Stockton hosted a community clean-up event Saturday morning at Roberts Island in San Joaquin County with partner organizations, tenants and members of the community. The initiative was part of Clean California Community Days – Spring Into Action, a state-wide 11-day event happening through Monday. The event is sponsored by the Governor’s Office and Caltrans

Published

2 years ago

April 3, 2023

Oakland Post

Volunteers from California Conservation Corps move tram up the slope during community cleanup event at Roberts Island in San Joaquin County, Calif., on March 25, 2023. (Harika Maddala/Bay City News/Catchlight Local)

The Port of Stockton hosted a community clean-up event Saturday morning at Roberts Island in San Joaquin County with partner organizations, tenants and members of the community.

The initiative was part of Clean California Community Days – Spring Into Action, a state-wide 11-day event happening through Monday. The event is sponsored by the Governor’s Office and Caltrans.

Nearly 35 volunteers from the community, Port of Stockton, Caltrans and several other organizations, gathered outside the Port Administration building on Washington Street to collect their clean up kits before joining a parade of cars on Highway 4 headed to the Roberts Island area.

Volunteers as young as eight wasted no time braving the cold winds and the steep slopes along Burns Cut Off, as they cleaned out several tons of trash including broken tv sets and other household electronics and appliances off the road.

Eight-year-old Kai Carrillo came out from Elk Grove with his father for the clean-up.

“I’m volunteering here today because I want to help our community with all the trash,” Carrillo said. “Most of the trash goes into the ocean, and we don’t want that in the ocean.”

Jeff Wingfield, deputy director of Regulatory and Public Affairs at Port of Stockton, was also on hand to help the clean-up.

“This is a pretty isolated area, and you will see a lot of people come in and dump more and more trash,” he said. “But if there’s no trash here, littering will gradually reduce.”

Wingfield said the Port plans to host at least four such events a year.

Among the volunteers were members from several organizations such as the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, the Sierra Club and California Conservation Corps, as well as District 5 Council Member Brando Villapudua.

“This is part of my district,” said Brando Villapudua. “Anyone caring about the water should be out here, getting your hands dirty and giving back to the community.”

Edith Villapudua is running for State Senate and was also at the event, along with Greg Zavala, who said he intends to run for city council.

Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 3, 2025

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

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Chevron Richmond Installs Baker Hughes Flare.IQ, Real-time Flare Monitoring, Control and Reduction System

While the sight of flaring can cause concern in the community, flares are essential safety systems that burn pollutants to prevent them from being released directly into the atmosphere. They activate during startup and shut-down of facility units or during upsets or equipment malfunctions. The typical flare stack is about 200 feet high so that vapors are well above street levels.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Image courtesy The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

Chevron Richmond recently installed flare.IQ, a real-time, automated system that will improve the facility’s flaring performance.

The technology, developed by Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business, uses sensors to monitor, reduce and control flaring in real time. It collects and assesses data on refinery processes, such as temperature, pressure, gas flow and gas composition, and adjusts accordingly to ensure flares burn more efficiently and cleanly, leading to fewer emissions.

“The cleaner the flare, the brighter the flame can look,” said Duy Nguyen, a Chevron Richmond flaring specialist. “If you see a brighter flame than usual on a flare, that actually means flare.IQ is operating as intended.”

“A key element in Baker Hughes’ emissions abatement portfolio, flare.IQ has a proven track record in optimizing flare operations and significantly reducing emissions,” said Colin Hehir, vice president of Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business. “By partnering with Chevron Richmond, one of the first operators in North America to adopt flare.IQ, we are looking forward to enhancing the plant’s flaring operations.”

The installation of flare.IQ is part of a broader and ongoing effort by Chevron Richmond to improve flare performance, particularly in response to increased events after the new, more efficient hydrogen plant was brought online in 2019.

Since then, the company has invested $25 million — and counting — into flare minimization. As part of the effort, a multidisciplinary refinery team was formed to find and implement ways to improve operational reliability and ultimately reduce flaring. Operators and other employees involved in management of flares and flare gas recovery systems undergo new training.

“It is important to me that the community knows we are working hard to lower emissions and improve our flaring performance,” Nguyen said.

Also evolving is the process by which community members are notified of flaring incidents. The Community Warning System (CWS), operated by Contra Costa County is an “all-hazard” public warning system.

Residents can opt-in to receive alerts via text, e-mail and landline. The CWS was recently expanded to enable residents to receive notifications for “Level 1” incidents, which are considered informational as they do not require any community action.

For more information related to these topics, check out the resources included on the Chevron Richmond, CAER and Contra Costa Health websites. Residents are also encouraged to follow @chevronrichmond and @RFDCAOnline on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), where additional information may be posted during an incident.