Oakland Tribune

Wednesday, December 18th, 2002

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Regulators go too easy on yeast factory, neighbors say

Stricter emission standards don't yet apply to West Oakland plant

By Cecily Burt
Staff Writer

OAKLAND -- West Oakland residents and environmental groups have stepped up the battle over Red Star Yeast with new charges that air quality officials are shirking their duty by giving the plant preferential treatment.

But wishes aren't what drives the process, federal officials say. Not only is Red Star Yeast in compliance with its operating permit, but the company also has several more months before it must meet stricter emission and odor levels.

It's been almost a year since Red Star Yeast, a century-old company now owned by Lesaffre Yeast Corp., applied for a new five-year federal operating permit. The permit is required under the Clean Air Act because the yeast plant emits volatile organic compounds and acetaldehyde, a known cancer-causing agent, as a byproduct of yeast processing.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District says it has one year from the expiration date of the old permit -- June 2002 -- to decide whether to issue a new operating permit.

Neighbors say the plant's smelly emissions are making them sick and aggravating asthma and other respiratory problems. They contend the district is not taking their concerns seriously despite promising to do so, and that inspectors are not responding to numerous smell complaints.

Environmental groups and Oakland City Councilmember Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland), said Thursday the plant was notified in October that a food processing exemption had been removed from yeast plantpermits and the company would be subject to stricter emissions standards.

The groups also said the company's new standards caused it to flunk recent source tests conducted by the district. As a result, they said, the district has the authority to revoke Red Star's permit, though it has refused to.

Ideally, the neighbors want the new permit denied and the plant closed. At the least they want Red Star to reduce its emissions and do a better job of controlling the pungent odors wafting from the plant on Fifth Street, near the West Oakland BART station.

"The smell gets under our doors and into our living rooms," said Renee Morrison, a West Oakland resident and chairwoman of the Chester Street Block Club Association. "The last call I made (to the district to complain), the lady asked me how I knew where it was coming from."

Morrison's son, Mister Marshall, 9, said when the smell is bad his eyes water and his stomach hurts. "It smells bad, mostly every day," he said. "It makes me sick, sometimes it gives me blurry vision."

According to the Environmental Indicators Project, West Oakland residents suffer disproportionately from industrial pollution and diesel truck traffic along the freeway to and from the Port of Oakland. Residents report high rates of asthma and other respiratory problems.

"We're going to pressure the air district to do its job," Nadel promised.

But Red Star plant manager Mike Cunningham denied that the company flunked any source tests and said the plant is in compliance with its current operating permit. He said the company is working with the district and the Port of Oakland to cut its emissions reduce odors.

The company's goal is to reduce volatile emissions to levels where a federal Title V permit is not even required.

The smell issue, however, is proving much more difficult. "The odor issues are giving us a run for our money," he said. "It's a difficult task and we haven't completely eliminated that."

Christine Schaufelberger, acting director of enforcement for the air district, said a letter she sent in October to Red Star was misinterpreted by the community. The company will not be subject to lower emissions standards until its new permit is issued, she said.

However, she said reducing emissions will not reduce the smells residents hate. Equipment is available to block the odors, although it is very expensive, she said. The district is in the process of creating new odor standards that she hopes to include in Red Star's permit, if the district's board of directors approves them.

The draft standards will be reviewed with the community before they are adopted, she said. "Our intent is to adopt a regulation that will eliminate odors at the facility."

"We're fast tracking the rules so they should be ready to go out to the community, and then to workshops in February or March," she said.