- Turning the Tides on Harmful Algae
- SFPUC Broke the Law and Now It’s Undermining It Too
- Oil Refinery’s Selenium Shenanigans
- Carbon Dumping in Disguise
- Celebrate the Bay You Love on 9/29!
Turning the Tides on Harmful Algae
Last week, we launched a community science program to monitor harmful algae blooms in the Bay with our partners at NOAA, USGS, and the San Francisco Estuary Institute.
We’re training community volunteers to detect the spread of harmful algae in the Bay earlier and more precisely.
And it’s part of Baykeeper’s long-term strategy to reduce red tides in the Bay. We’re also advocating for a stronger permit to reduce the pollution that fuels algae overgrowth – and you can help!
Pictured, above: Baykeeper staff scientist Ian Wren helps train volunteers as they learn how to collect algae samples in San Francisco Bay. Photo by Robb Most.

SFPUC Broke the Law and Now It’s Undermining It Too
For decades, SFPUC has released millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Bay annually. So Baykeeper and the EPA recently sued to get the water utility to clean up its act.
Instead of fixing its pollution problems, SFPUC is challenging the Clean Water Act before the US Supreme Court—and giving the court’s activist right-wing majority an opportunity to undo environmental protections across the country, as Baykeeper attorney Eric Buescher told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Pictured: a syringe (circled in red) and other waste, discharged by SFPUC into the Bay

Oil Refinery’s Selenium Shenanigans
The North Bay’s Phillips 66 oil refinery recently tried to use its biofuels conversion to stop treating its wastewater to remove selenium from its discharges into the Bay.
But that plan failed. We urged the Water Board to require selenium treatment until there’s definitive proof that Phillips 66 is no longer polluting the Bay with the contaminant. The Board agreed, requiring the refinery to treat its biofuel waste for selenium as long as the pollutant is present at harmful levels in its discharges.
Illustration of a Sacramento splittail suffering from spinal deformities caused by selenium exposure. Illustration by Fiorella Ikeue in collaboration with Baykeeper.
Carbon Dumping in Disguise

While the climate crisis looms, some corporations are using this existential threat as an opportunity to do more harm than good.
A new for-profit project in Solano county is being billed as a “carbon capture” project. But the Montezuma NorCal Carbon Sequestration Hub is actually a carbon-dumping plan that poses significant threats to public health and the environment. We’re working with a coalition of groups to stop the plan and urge officials to invest in real solutions instead.
Pictured: a carbon pipeline via Carbon Capture Facts

Celebrate the Bay You Love on 9/29!
On September 29, Baykeeper and our partners, supporters, and allies will be celebrating your incredible impact over 35 years of defending San Francisco Bay!
We’re so excited to gather for our 35th anniversary celebration. Mark your calendars for Sunday, September 29, and look for more event details soon.