Chevron Expansion Project:
I gave both written and oral testimony concerning the Chevron Expansion Project.  I played an active part in the community mobilization requesting a crude cap on the grade of crude oil that Chevron could refine.  
 
The crude cap would have limited Chevron’s ability to refine dirtier, more polluting crude oil.  It would have been a ground breaking policy in favor of protecting the health of all of us.  We all breathe the same air.  
The city’s residents have ample reason to fear that Chevron would want to refine heavier and therefore dirtier crude oil.  It is cheaper, which means Chevron would reap greater profits.  While Chevron claimed that they did not have the capability or the interest in refining heavier crude oil, they refused to agree to that condition.  Chevron’s reason; they didn’t want to set a precedent.  A precedent is just what the city should insist on.  The precedent must be that protecting the public’s health comes first and is not negotiable.
 
I continue to support a crude cap and I believe that a progressive city council majority could revisit this in the future.  The legalities of how best to proceed at this point, given the terrible decisions that the present city council has made, are not totally clear.  Much will depend on public pressure.  The Richmond Alliance for Environmental Justice, the coalition which led the community mobilization, will be having a retreat this summer to discuss the best strategy for protecting the public’s health. I plan to participate.

The Chevron Expansion Project will also result in a significant increase in Green House Gas emissions each and every year.  The city council justified this by forcing Chevron to “mitigate” this damage.  What this means is Chevron will cut GHG emissions in other areas of its operations or will plant trees which sequester carbon dioxide (CO2).  That would be fine if we weren’t already in such a deep mess.

The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere today is 386 parts per million (ppm).  The world’s leading climate scientists are now telling us that we have already gone too far.  The amount of CO2 we need to achieve in order to avoid planetary catastrophe is 350 ppm (www.350.org).  We need to make significant progress toward this goal within a decade.  We need to transition away from burning fossil fuels as soon as we can. 
It makes absolutely no sense for Chevron to be allowed to increase the tonnage of CO2 they spew into the atmosphere at a time when it threatens the existence of future generations and life on the earth as we know it.  

Lastly, the process involved in the expansion approval subverted the democratic process. The city made secret deals with Chevron without public knowledge or consent.  The West County Times, not known for a liberal editorial philosophy, severely criticized this secrecy.  The Times editorial stated that the “six members of the council, who were led by Councilwoman Maria Viramontes, (who voted for the secret oil deal) should be ashamed.”(click here for the more info)