‘It’s Unfair to the Community’: Barrio Logan Votes to Oppose Controversial Biofuel Plant’s Pipeline Plans

April 21, 2023

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by Emily Alvarenga (San Diego Union-Tribune) New Leaf Biofuel says the pipeline would cut down on truck traffic. But the planning group decided it wouldn’t be enough to benefit the community.
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New Leaf Biofuel wants to build an underground pipeline to connect its warehouses, a project its officials say would cut down on truck traffic in a neighborhood choked with diesel pollution.

But residents say the pipeline would only make a dent in truck traffic there, and worry that more construction will only further cement the facility’s place in the community. The planning group agreed, voting 9-0 to oppose the project.
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The vote marks the culmination of a longstanding battle between New Leaf and the community, who voiced concerns in October saying “vomit-like” odors coming from the facility were making them sick.

New Leaf Biofuel, which opened on Newton Avenue near Main Street about 15 years ago, is an industrial business that runs 24/7 converting used cooking oil into biodiesel.

Burning renewable diesel, or biodiesel, can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 85 percent compared to petroleum diesel, according to the California Air Resources Board.

But a byproduct of processing the cooking oil into biofuel is the strong, bitter odor nearby residents said they could smell from their homes.
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In November, regulators with the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District ordered the plant to immediately start mitigating the odors and mandated the installation of an odor-reducing system.

Since then, the district — along with residents — has noticed far fewer strong odors.
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The pipeline is intended only to improve efficiency, safety and odor and reduce truck traffic, she (New Leaf CEO Jennifer Case) said.
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But at the meeting, planning group members expressed their frustrations that New Leaf had not sent a representative to speak with the community and clear up confusion, such as that of the company’s expansion.

“It goes to show the kind of neighbor they are that they aren’t here,” planning group chair Julie Corrales said. “It’s unfair to the community.”

“They’ve been absent from this planning group, from Barrio Logan in general,” added board member Matt Carr. They’ve “ignored the neighborhood and disrespected this group.”

Case later told the Union-Tribune that Schweitzer (Abhay Schweitzer, principal at Techne, the architecture firm that prepared drawings for the pipeline project) has been representing New Leaf for several years regarding the project.

“Based on the simplicity and benefit of the project, we didn’t expect opposition,” Case wrote in an email Thursday. “I hope the community can understand we, as always, aim to have a positive impact on environment. If there is a follow-up meeting, I will be sure to attend personally so I can answer questions directly.”
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A 12-inch pipe would travel under Sicard Street to connect the plant’s cooking oil purification site with the biodiesel factory across the street.

The pipe would run 10 to 12 feet underground and would contain two smaller 3-inch hoses that would carry the oil within an outer containment pipe, he said. Sensors placed within the pipe would gather data and detect leaks.

As part of the project, the company would also make public street improvements, paving the 140- to 180-foot construction area and adding sidewalks, curbs, gutters and four trees along that stretch, Schweitzer said.
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“The emissions from a short truck trip 20 feet across the street is minimal compared to the emissions from trucks from local restaurants delivering products to New Leaf on a daily basis — this project will not eliminate any of those emissions,” said Nicholas Paul, an air quality advocate with the Environmental Health Coalition. “We’re talking about a broader issue … a biofuel plant in the middle of a residential community. That’s the root of why we’re here today.”
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However, the planning group’s vote in opposition is only a recommendation. The project only needs the city’s approval to proceed. READ MORE

In pollution-weary Barrio Logan, residents protest biodiesel plant’s pipeline plans (San Diego Union-Tribune)

‘It’s time to go’: In Barrio Logan, controversial pipeline plans prompt new calls for a biodiesel plant to close (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Barrio Logan biofuel plant pulls controversial pipeline plans under community pressure (San Diego Union-Tribune)

San Diego biodiesel plant still stirring up opposition from Barrio Logan neighbors (KPBS)

Foul-Smelling Biofuels Plant In Southwest Dallas Is Shutting Down (Dallas Morning News/Society of Environmental Journalists)

Controversial Barrio Logan plant stopping biodiesel operations (KBPS)

New Leaf Biofuel to shut down biodiesel plant by end of year (Biobased Diesel Daily)

Excerpt from San Diego Union-Tribune: New Leaf Biofuel chief executive Jennifer Case backed away from plans for a pipeline linking the plant’s facilities and said she would look to move some of its operations

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Now, New Leaf Biofuel will look to relocate some of its operations, CEO and co-founder Jennifer Case told the San Diego Union-Tribune late Thursday.

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That clarification came a day after she faced a grilling by the Barrio Logan Community Planning Group and the 75 residents who had shown up in person at the group’s monthly meeting.

“Everybody likes that there’s a biodiesel product that’s good for the environment, but nobody wants it in their community,” Case said.

After a heated debate, Case said she would advocate to shareholders against New Leaf’s current plans to construct an underground pipeline to connect the plant’s warehouses — a project she said would cut down on truck traffic in a neighborhood already choked with diesel pollution. “I’m going to talk with my shareholders, it’s not just me,” she added.

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“After hearing from the community last night, I am determined to begin looking for an alternative location for cooking oil processing,” Case told the Union-Tribune in an email on Thursday, referring to the used oil her company converts into biodiesel. “I don’t anticipate that finding a new location and funds to build it will be easy, but I believe that it’s the right thing to do.”

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But some fed-up residents said even halting the project wouldn’t be enough, calling for New Leaf to close up shop entirely and for the Barrio Logan facility to cease operations.

Since the pipeline plan was first presented to the community in March, the planning group and residents alike expressed worries that the project would only cement the facility’s place in the neighborhood and help New Leaf scale up its overall production, despite city efforts to curb industrial activity in the community.

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Barrio Logan’s new community growth blueprint, which aims to ensure no new industrial facilities are permitted in the pollution-weary neighborhood, will go before the City Council for final approval in the coming months. The California Coastal Commission signed off last month with conditions.

New Leaf’s pipeline project was approved by the city in May, despite the planning group‘s vote to oppose it. The planning group has since appealed, calling on the city to study the project’s environmental impact before finalizing its approval.

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Case began by apologizing for not having come earlier to speak to the community, blaming her absence on “bad advice” from others and on “being scared.”

When she founded New Leaf two decades ago, she said, Barrio Logan was one of the few places in San Diego that allowed heavy industry.

For decades, the primarily Latino community has uneasily coexisted with industrial uses they say have polluted the air and posed health risks. It is one of the most pollution-burdened communities in California, according to the state, and has a higher asthma rate than most other communities.

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New Leaf installed an odor-reducing system last year — after the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District board ordered the facility to mitigate the smell — and much of the strong odors have since dissipated. READ MORE

Excerpt from San Diego Union-Tribune: Although New Leaf Biofuel said the project would cut down on truck traffic in a neighborhood already choked with diesel pollution, residents worried it would further cement the plant’s place in the community — and said it symbolized the failure to rid their community of the heavy industry that has long made it one of the city’s most polluted.

At a Barrio Logan Community Planning Group meeting last month, New Leaf’s chief executive listened to the roughly 75 residents who’d shown up to express concerns. After a heated debate, CEO and cofounder Jennifer Case suggested she was changing her mind about New Leaf’s plans, telling the San Diego Union-Tribune she would seek to move some operations.

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On Tuesday, city officials announced New Leaf had officially rescinded its pipeline proposal — a decision met with praise from community leaders and residents alike.

“The original purpose of New Leaf’s pipeline project between the two facilities was to reduce the impact of our operations on the neighborhood, but after feedback from the community and Environmental Health Coalition, we have decided that it is in everyone’s best interest that we withdraw the application,” Case said Thursday. “Our mission is to make a positive impact on the world, and that starts with our community here in Barrio Logan.”

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Excerpt from KBPS: An embattled biodiesel factory in Barrio Logan is shutting down most of the company’s business by the end of the year.

New Leaf Biofuels announced plans on Friday (October 20, 2023) to close the firm’s fuel-processing operations in Barrio Logan.

“The remaining part of this year we are going to focus on the decommissioning of the biodiesel plant and helping our loyal employees find new places to work,” said Jennifer Case, the co-founder and CEO of New Leaf Biofuels.

About 25-30 people will lose their jobs when the facility at 2285 Newton Ave. is shuttered.

Case said many of those workers have been with the company since it opened in 2006.

Company officials notified the San Diego Air Pollution Control District (APCD) of their intentions in a formal letter to the regulators delivered on Friday.

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An expensive activated carbon-filtering system got rid of the worst odors, but the move didn’t snuff out neighborhood opposition.

“This move by New Leaf wouldn’t have happened had it not been for community members advocating and organizing saying 'hey, you know I don’t want to live next to a biofuel plant,' and elevating that to regulators,” Paul said.

Paul was pleased the company is shutting down the bulk of its business in Barrio Logan, but he is concerned that the remaining cooking oil-treatment operations will still generate smells.

The plant currently processes cooking oil and fuel around the clock.

New Leaf officials said the cooking oil processing will be greatly reduced and any oil treated at the Barrio Logan plant will be sold to biodiesel manufacturers outside of the area.

The cooking oil collection business will continue to operate. READ MORE

Excerpt from Biobased Diesel Daily: The conflict between residents and New Leaf Biofuel was a contributing factor in the decision to cease biodiesel production.

In addition, the changing biobased diesel landscape in the U.S. also played a role.

“Along with the federal Renewable Fuel Standard and biodiesel tax incentive, the [California Low Carbon Fuel Standard] worked remarkably well to stimulate the renewable industry, resulting in natural industry growth and consolidation that has accelerated in recent years with total production more than doubling since 2020,” the company stated. “Community-sized plants like New Leaf struggle to compete in this new landscape, where the major fuel refiners are now owners of renewable fuel plants with greater access to feedstock and far superior economies of scale.”

New Leaf Biofuel was one of the pioneers of the California biodiesel industry, lobbying for the LCFS and other policies that transformed the fuel landscape to where it is today—where more than 50 percent of the 3.5 billion gallons of diesel used annually is made from renewable sources.

In early 2021, the company completed a major two-phase, four-year expansion project, more than doubling biodiesel production capacity from 5 million gallons per year (mgy) to 12 mgy.

“During our tenure, New Leaf produced approximately 40 million gallons of ultra-low carbon biodiesel, displacing 40 million gallons of petroleum diesel and avoiding over 500,000 tons of carbon, the equivalent of removing over 100,000 cars from the road for a year,” the company stated.

Even though the company’s biodiesel operations are shutting down, New Leaf Biofuel will continue its used cooking oil (UCO) and grease-trap services.

“Our restaurant clients can rest assured that our clean and efficient cooking-oil and grease-trap services will continue uninterrupted throughout the transition period and into the future,” the company stated. “New Leaf will continue to support the renewable fuel industry, ensuring that every gallon of cooking oil collected is converted to renewable fuels in accordance with the company’s mission.”

In addition, New Leaf Biofuel stated that it will continue to bring hundreds of millions of gallons of biodiesel, renewable diesel and ethanol to California through its Renewable Fuel Terminal in Fontana.

Once complete later this year, the terminal will provide storage and truck loading for renewable diesel and biodiesel as well as rail transloading for ethanol.

“Similar to our restaurant services, this line of business will continue as planned, without interruption,” New Leaf Biofuel said. “While our time producing biodiesel has come to an end, we are committed to continuing our mission of making a positive impact on the world by sourcing low-carbon feedstock and helping to support the production and use renewable fuels in California.”

The company added that, since its founding in 2006, its mission was to make a positive impact on the world by producing an ultra-low carbon biodiesel fuel made from UCO.

“For nearly two decades, the company has partnered with Southern California restaurants to ensure the safe, clean and efficient recycling of cooking oil, which was converted into biodiesel fuel at its Barrio Logan-based biorefinery,” New Leaf Biofuel stated. “The fuel made at New Leaf’s plant was one of the lowest-carbon fuels available for sale in California, with a carbon intensity score demonstrating an 85 percent reduction in carbon compared to petroleum diesel.”

The company thanked those who helped make the plant successful over the past nearly two decades, including the California Air Resources Board, the city and county of San Diego and its elected officials, the California Energy Commission, Clean Cities, the trade organizations Clean Fuels Alliance America and the California Advanced Biofuels Alliance, local fleets and truck stops, and thousands of Southern California restaurants.

“Most importantly, we want to recognize our fantastic plant-operations team who have kept this plant running for the past 15 years to ensure a steady supply of biodiesel to the market,” New Leaf Biofuel stated. “We are devastated that over 25 people will lose their jobs as a result of this closure.” READ MORE