Photo Credit: Tony Tamayo

On Friday, November 12, the City of Richmond announced it had finally reached a settlement agreement with the Levin-Richmond Terminal Corporation. After 18 months of litigation, the parties agreed to end the storage of coal and petroleum coke (“petcoke”) in Richmond by 2027. The settlement ends a legal battle between Richmond, three fossil fuel companies, and the state of Utah that was fought in both state and federal court. The outcome is being hailed as a major win for environmental justice organizations and Richmond residents alike. 

Green Mountains from Momoyogusa, Kamisaka Sekka (1909)

On October 19th, the Richmond City Council voted 4 to 3 instructing the City Attorney to file a brief in the federal appeals court case in support of Point Molate Alliance and other community groups who have sued the city for voting behind closed doors on the Point Molate settlement. After opposing us, the city will now go on record admitting that it violated the Brown Act and California's land use law when it secretly approved the settlement with the failed casino developers. This illegal 2019 agreement resulted in the proposed luxury housing project we are fighting today.

Power Plant, by Henry Lyman Saÿen

In early 2020, Richmond adopted an ordinance implementing a limited ban on new natural gas infrastructure in the city. This measure addressed a crucial component of global warming: buildings are a serious source of pollution. Their use of fossil fuels accounts for roughly 12% of the United States’s greenhouse gas emissions.

While a substantial step in the right direction, the original ordinance fell short of achieving a true natural gas ban. For example, it permits new residential construction that utilizes natural gas kitchen appliances and in-residence fireplaces. Such uses require the construction of gas pipelines throughout buildings and beneath city streets. 

On September 21, Councilmember Eduardo Martinez brought the issue before the City Council, which seeks to close the loopholes allowed by the 2020 measure. The new ordinance would ban natural gas infrastructure in all new buildings in the city, with few exceptions.

Photo credit: Jack Scheinman

Point Molate is Richmond’s wide, expansive, and beautiful public land as well as Ohlone sacred land. It is an ecological treasure rich in cultural and social history. Protecting rare biological and sacred cultural resources, access to nature, and recreation for the public is an environmental justice solution in a city crying out for climate safeguards and racial equity. SunCal’s proposed private residential enclave at Point Molate would burden our city’s residents with infrastructure costs that Richmond can ill afford. Community leaders, public agencies, and foundations are stepping up to support this world-class designated parkland.

On September 25th, youth from across Richmond came together to share their perspectives and experiences growing up during the climate crisis in our city. The Listening Project team organized the Youth Listening Project (YLP) with the goal of listening to understand and empowering youth in our community to lead. As young people, we are often told to sit back and let the elders and adults lead, but many of those decision-makers have led us to an environmental reality of severe droughts, constant wildfires, and life-threatening air, water, and soil pollution in our communities. These environmental crises are mirrored with communal crises of inequities and public safety.

pennants made by Debbie Bayer, photo credit: Jin Zhu

The following is an update of the proposed cleanup of the HRP Campus Bay Development site, also known as AstraZeneca and formerly Stauffer Chemical. Those latter two company names reflect only a few of the recent owners of the 86-acre site on Richmond’s South shoreline.  The legacy of 100 plus years of chemical manufacturing remains buried:  550,000 cubic yards of mixed toxic material including VOCs (volatile organic compounds), heavy metals, TCEs (trichloroethylene), arsenic, etc. Contrary to community pleas for a comprehensive cleanup to remove of all the contaminants, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) approved a work plan to remove less than 2% of the toxics, cap the area, then build 4,000 housing units above the toxic sludge. Uncontained on the sides or the bottom, the toxic plumes will continue to leak into surrounding properties, including Stege Marsh and the San Francisco Bay. Sea level rise will force off-gassing toxics inland and upwards putting future residents at risk. The excavation work, paid for by Zeneca (AstraZenca) and carried out by Terraphase will begin soon and will continue during September and October. This work will take place on Lot 3, near South 49^th St., and will likely be visible (and audible) from the Bay Trail. Only 200 notices were sent out by DTSC, mostly to nearby businesses, in English only. Nearby neighborhood residents were not informed. Real time air monitoring is not included in their plan. 

RPA environmental justice and climate catastrophe activists have been after our local refineries to clean up their air pollution for years, especially Chevron and now PBF Energy (who bought the Shell refinery in Martinez in 2020).  The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) Board of Directors met this past July and voted overwhelmingly in favor of strict new requirements for particulate matter emission standards.

Photo credit: Arthur Koch, Artist credit: David Solnit

Hundreds of Richmond residents participated in the 8th annual Global Anti-Chevron Day on May 21, 2021. Linking the struggles for justice in Richmond, Ecuador and Myanmar, communities damaged by Chevron shared their stories about the impact of the oil company’s environmental destruction and human rights violations. This annual action occurs in advance of Chevron’s annual shareholder’s meeting.

The City of Richmond signed a Development Agreement last December allowing HRP Campus Bay Property, LLC to build 4,000 residential units on top of the old Stauffer Chemical waste site, currently owned by Astra-Zeneca. Before the Development Agreement can be finalized, however, the developer (HRP) and the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), must sign off on a Prospective Purchaser Agreement allowing the transfer of the land from Zeneca (aka Cherokee Simeon LLC) to HRP. The Prospective Purchaser Agreement (PPA) is a legal document indemnifying both the DTSC and the purchaser (HRP) from lawsuits. The public has until June 25 to comment on this agreement, by emailing public comment letter to [email protected] and [email protected].