New bill would tighten hydrogen sulfide standards in South Bay

S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman on today's show. A new bill would strengthen regulations around air pollution from the Tijuana River. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. We know that air pollution near the Tijuana River valley is threatening the health of residents. A new bill by California State Senator Steve Padilla would strengthen regulations around one of those pollutants , and that's hydrogen sulfide. Joining me to talk about it is Mackenzie Elmer. She's environment and energy reporter for Voice of San Diego. McKenzie , welcome. Hi.

S2: Hi. Thanks for having me.

S1: Glad to have you here. So tell me. I mean , this bill really seeks to address hydrogen sulfide spewing from the Tijuana River.

S2: As we know , scientists have installed air monitors as well as the air pollution control district , and they monitor air pollution around the county. That shows that pretty regularly overnight , especially when wastewater is flowing across the border from Mexico into the US , hydrogen sulfide numbers can be seen going up around the areas. The neighborhoods that are close to the river for.

S1:

S2: It's smells like rotten eggs. Um , it's made by decomposing organic matter generally. So , um , it's made in large quantities by , like , the oil and gas industry. Um , but it's also just something that the human body makes as well. Um , but when it's released or breathed in at really high concentrations. It can cause immediate death , and that's what people mostly know it for. And that's usually in these industrial situations , like I explained. But down in South Bay , the hydrogen sulfide levels are quite low comparatively. But that's really still concerning for researchers who are looking at this problem , because there's not a lot of science and we don't really know what low levels of hydrogen sulfide chronically breathed in by the residents who live by the river. What that does to the human body in the long term.

S1: And you report that on just Sunday night , levels of hydrogen sulfide exceeded what the state says is safe.

S2: I mean , that's sort of what's up in the air right now. And what I found through my reporting is this what's considered safe is sort of there's a big question mark on that , right ? Like I said , there's not a lot of science that says , you know what really low levels of the gas can do to the body. And so even the level that's considered safe by our local regulators. Some researchers would say that standard is way too high and permissive of too much gas. And so that's what Senator Padilla's bill is trying to do , is kind of bring more research to the table and sort of assess and decide if we need to lower that standard for hydrogen sulfide and make it more restrictive.

S1: And put into context that gap between what's considered currently a safe amount of hydrogen , um , sulfide , to be exposed to versus what Senator Padilla is asking for in this legislation.

S2: He has not stated a number or given like a specific level himself in the bill. What I think the bill is really focused on doing is kick starting a process to then eventually direct the state to lower that hydrogen sulfide level. This this gas is actually quite political. In my in my reporting on this , I discovered that there's actually no federal standard for hydrogen sulfide. What's considered , you know , a safe amount because the oil and gas industry fought the Congress heavily in the 1990s and prevented the EPA from really putting a kind of a regulatory level on the gas. And so states have sort of been it's been their responsibility to set , you know , what's safe for their state. And it's all over the place. Honestly , if you look across the United States. So , uh , it will , it will , we'll see. But really the gap that I understand is like , uh , it's hard to kind of describe on live on the radio , but the level , um , that overnight was dangerous for South Bay residents was at like 34 , it's called parts per billion or , uh , parts of hydrogen sulfide and a billion particles of air. And researchers say really anything above 1.4 parts per billion could be considered dangerous for chronic exposure and current.

S1: And then currently California has that standard. As what ? 30.

S2: Right.

S1: Right.

S2: So 30 parts per billion. So there is quite a quite a gap there. Wow.

S1: Wow. So what would in stating a new public health standard for hydrogen sulfide actually do.

S2: It's kind of hard to say because , you know , the Tijuana River and also the Salton Sea is part of this. It's another area at Imperial Valley. It's an inland sea that's sort of drying up. And also , I guess , off gassing hydrogen sulfide , which Padilla wants to regulate. You can't really regulate or , you know , find a body of water. Um , a lot of these sort of regulations are made for industries that , you know , a government can say you , you know , oil and gas industry , you need to , like , lessen the amount of hydrogen sulfide you're releasing. But it will be interesting to see how see Padilla's proposed Health standard. Really what it does in terms of what the government can do to regulate it. I think what this is mostly about is kind of giving more power to these air pollution control districts that exist all over California to have more power to to do more than just monitor the gas and then alert communities when it's high. Maybe they can , you know , say this , this gas level is is so high that we need to actually , you know , raise funds or ask for funding or somehow mobilize resources for the community , which we know South Bay has been struggling with. They've been struggling to get resources for air filters for homes. And so I think that's kind of the point of what Padilla's bill is attempting to do.

S1:

S2: A couple of interesting groups popped up in opposition. One of them was Calpine Corporation , which is a big energy company , and they , their lobbyist said , we have concerns that if we set a new standard for hydrogen sulfide , this might impact the geothermal industry , which is another industry that creates a lot of the gas as a byproduct of what it does. So , you know , if we see a mobilization of energy industries , again , kind of like what happened in the 1990s with Congress , we could see a potential battle at the legislature. But the bill did pass the Senate already with pretty much , you know , flying colors. No one really opposed it. So we'll we'll see what happens in the assembly when it makes it there. Later this summer.

S1: I'm bringing this back to the residents. You've been covering this issue for some time.

S2: You know , it's just something that I think people grew accustomed to and they just lived with and they're like , yeah , it smells like we're getting close to Imperial Beach. Um , getting close to the Tijuana River. Um , but I think only until recently when we had , you know , scientists come down and sort of reveal hydrogen sulfide. And it became known that this was a toxic gas that can affect your health over the long term. People started to associate , okay , this is something bad that I'm smelling and breathing , and I need to be worried about this. And I think there's that's really mobilized , um , the politics machine to try to to act finally and , and do something about it. And so we're seeing that and what , you know , Steve Padilla is trying to do here.

S1: I mean , meanwhile , San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre is calling on Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency over high levels of hydrogen sulfide gas in the South Bay. And that's not really anything new.

S2: And that's really what this problem needs. It's an infrastructure problem in Mexico and in the United States. It just needs money to make some fixes and build some things down at the river to , to treat the , the pollution that's been there for decades. Um , but no governor. Governor Gavin Newsom hasn't been willing to do that. President Biden hadn't been willing to do that. You could mobilize the money either way if either leader wanted to. And this , um , you know , this gubernatorial race we have coming up in California , we've had multiple , um , candidates , Katie Porter , Tom Steyer , both mentioned the Tijuana River crisis. Katie Porter went as far as to say , you know , this would be the first thing I would do if I were elected was to declare an emergency. So we're now seeing this topic enter the governor's race , which is very interesting , and we'll see if whoever becomes governor will , you know , follow through on that promise , I'm sure. Reporters here will definitely be on there on their case about it.

S1: Yeah , no doubt about it. Well , we'll be , um , watching this bill and seeing where it goes from here. I've been speaking with McKenzie Elmer. She is environment and energy reporter for Voice of San Diego. McKenzie , as always , thank you so much.

S2: Thank you. It was great talking to you. Likewise.

S1: Likewise. That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.