October 20, 1995 Contact: Robert Irion (408/459-2495)

CALPIRG SETTLEMENT WITH SHELL OIL NETS $100,000 FOR UC SANTA CRUZ RESEARCH IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Marine researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have received $100,000 from a $2.2 million settlement between Shell Oil Company and the California Public Interest Research Group (CalPIRG). Six research teams will use the funds to launch or enhance various studies on he water quality of the San Francisco Bay.

The settlement, announced in February, resulted from one of the largest citizen Clean Water Act lawsuits in state history. Shell Oil agreed to reduce drastically its discharges of the toxic substance selenium into the bay from its refinery in Martinez. The company also paid $2.2 million to various agencies in the region for environmental research, restoration, and education projects relating to the bay and its threatened ecosystem.

Selenium is present in crude oil and is released as waste from oil refineries. As a result of selenium discharges to San Francisco Bay, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has designated parts of the bay as "toxic hot spots" under the Clean Water Act. The state government has issued health warnings against eating certain ducks from the bay.

CalPIRG's lawsuit forced Shell to agree to reduce its discharges of selenium at a faster rate than was required by the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board. The settlement calls for Shell to cut gradually its discharges from 5.8 pounds per day in early 1995 to 2.13 pounds per day by July 1998. CalPIRG also demanded the elimination of all loopholes that would have allowed Shell to challenge that final limit.

"This settlement shows that citizens have the power to force huge corporations like Shell to reduce their pollution, and shows that citizens are willing to go to the mat to protect the natural resources they love," says Mary Raftery, program director at CalPIRG. "This lawsuit sends the message to Shell and other oil companies that it doesn't pay to pollute."

University of California researchers received $250,000 from the settlement, of which $100,000 went to the Institute of Marine Sciences at UC Santa Cruz. After an internal review of proposals, the following six projects earned portions of the Shell funds:

-- $20,000 for studies of trace metals in the bay, including which chemical species may be toxic to plant life, and development of a technique to measure many trace metals at once. Team leader: Kenneth Bruland, professor of marine sciences.

-- $20,000 for upgrading a mass spectrometer to lower the detection limits for elements such as lead, copper, zinc, cadmium, and cobalt in the waters and sediments of the bay. Team leader: Russell Flegal, professor of earth sciences.

-- $20,000 for studies of the interaction between contaminants in the bay and natural colloids, suspended particles that can affect the toxicity of a substance. Team leader: Mark Wells, assistant research marine chemist.

-- $15,000 to measure the levels of various organochlorine compounds, such as PCBs and other industrial pollutants, in the bay's waters. Team leader: Walter Jarman, postdoctoral researcher.

-- $13,000 for studies of the cycles of carbon and nitrogen among the bay's water, sediments, and bottom-dwelling organisms. Team leader: Jane Caffrey, assistant research oceanographer.

-- $12,000 for an analysis of the role of a non-native species, the Asian clam, in the food web of the northern bay. Team leader: Mary Silver, professor of marine sciences.

CalPIRG is a statewide environmental and consumer protection advocacy organization with over 70,000 members. It was represented in this lawsuit by attorneys from the Boston-based National Environmental Law Center and the San Francisco firm of Sideman & Bancroft.

Editor's note: For more information about the UCSC research projects, call Gary Griggs, director of UCSC's Institute of Marine Sciences, at (408) 459-5006. For more information on the CalPIRG settlement with Shell Oil, call Mary Raftery at (916) 448-4516. CalPIRG contributed to this release.

This release is also available on UC NewsWire, the University of California's electronic news service. To access by modem, dial (209) 244-6971.

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