rebecca@sfbg.com
77: Years before climate scientists say the Sierra Snowpack, the state’s largest reservoir, could dwindle to half its historic size. [Source: Fact Sheet, California Air Resources Board]
2,500,000,000,000: Barrels of “produced” wastewater generated by onshore oil and gas wells in California in 2011.
[Source: California Department of Conservation]
2,294: New oil and gas wells drilled in California in 2011.
[Source: California Department of Conservation]
565: Gigatons of carbon that can be burned before global average temperatures rise by 2 degrees Celsius, the ceiling target established by the Copenhagen Accord to avert the worst consequences of global climate change.
[Source: 350.org]
2,795: Gigatons of carbon held in reserves by the world’s oil and gas companies, which would emit five times the “safe” amount of carbon into the atmosphere if burned.
[Source: 350.org]
$26,200,000,000: Annual profit reaped by San Ramon-based Chevron last year — the oil company’s second-highest profit ever earned.
[Source: San Francisco Chronicle]
$1,000,000: Approximate amount Chevron was fined by state regulators for the Aug. 6, 2012 Richmond Refinery fire, which resulted in about 200 hospital visits due to exposure to toxic fumes.
[Source: LA Times]
656,576: Miles of waterways, representing 55 percent of all rivers and streams in the U.S., ranked in “poor” condition in the EPA’s latest assessment, meaning they can’t support healthy aquatic life.
[Source: US EPA]
13,144: Miles of U.S. waterways where fish are not safe for human consumption, due to high levels of mercury.
[Source: US EPA]
16: Inches sea level is expected to rise in the San Francisco Bay by 2050, according to climate change scenarios.
[Source: Bay Conservation and Development Commission]
55: Inches sea level is expected to rise in the San Francisco Bay by 2099, according to climate change scenarios.
[Source: Bay Conservation and Development Commission]
234,167: Metric tons of greenhouse gases Pacific Gas & Electric Co. reported emitting in San Francisco in 2011, from natural gas distribution.
[Source: U.S. EPA]
195,061: Acres of pine or fir forest it would take to absorb PG&E’s 2011 San Francisco greenhouse gas emissions, assuming CO2 absorption for one year. (Roughly 6.5 times the land area of SF.)
[Calculation based on California Air Resources Board million metric ton equivalents]
$500,000,000: Estimated San Francisco Employee Retirement System holdings in 81 fossil fuel companies including Chevron, BP, Exxon Mobil, Occidental Petroleum and Arch Coal.
[Source: SFERS]