For Immediate Release: 6/5/2009
Reprinted from EarthJustice.org

Court Rejects Environmental Review for Chevron Refinery

Community and public health advocates cheer

Martinez, CA – Today, Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga tossed out the Environmental Impact Report for a major expansion at the Chevron Refinery, in Richmond, California.

At issue was an environmental review that failed to disclose that the proposed expansion would allow Chevron to process a heavier crude oil.  Environmental, community, and public health groups sued the City of Richmond for accepting a flawed EIR that did not fully analyze the project’s health and environmental impacts.  Heavier crude oil can contain higher amounts of contaminants, such as mercury and selenium, which can cause serious health problems.

“The City of Richmond signed off on an oil refinery expansion plan that likely would have opened the gates for Chevron to refine heavier, dirtier crude oil,” said Earthjustice attorney Will Rostov.  “This could have increased pollution in Richmond and surrounding areas.”

In her decision, Judge Zuniga said:  “The [Final Environmental Impact Report] project description is unclear and inconsistent as to whether [the] project will or will not enable Chevron to process a heavier crude slate than it is currently processing.”

“Protecting our communities from additional toxic and global warming pollution is a huge victory,” said Jessica Tovar, a community organizer with Communities for a Better Environment.  “This is an opportunity to invest in clean green energy as a solution, instead of compromising our health by locking in a generation of refining dirtier crude oil.”

“The decision is a victory for the community,” said Koy Seng Saechao, a community leader with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network.  “We need green and healthy solutions from Chevron and our City, not more pollution.  The decision protects my family and neighbors from even more pollution and allows us to plan for a healthier future.”

“Chevron must stop its toxic assault on poor people of color,” said Dr. Henry Clark of the West County Toxics Coalition.  “This is a significant environmental justice victory for Richmond and the country.”

The court also held that the City improperly allowed Chevron to wait a year after the EIR process was completed before developing a plan to mitigate its greenhouse gases. This is one of the first decisions addressing the deferral of greenhouse gas mitigations under the California Environmental Quality Act.

Finally, the court agreed with Plaintiffs that the project had omitted an important component: a hydrogen pipeline that would attach to the newly approved hydrogen plant – one of the project’s four key components – and stretch to ConocoPhillips Rodeo Refinery and Shell’s Martinez refinery.

BACKGROUND

Communities in Richmond, particularly low-income and communities of color already suffer from industrial pollution-related health problems, including high rates of asthma and cancer. Chevron’s refinery is the largest industrial polluter in the region.

The case Communities for a Better Environment, Asian Pacific Environmental Network & West County Toxics Coalition v. City of Richmond was filed in Contra Costa County Superior Court on September 4th, 2008 by attorneys from Earthjustice and CBE.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE GROUPS SUE CITY OF RICHMOND OVER APPROVAL OF CHEVRON REFINERY EXPANSION

Flawed Environmental Review Endangers Public Health and Environment

(Richmond, CA) Environmental justice groups filed a lawsuit challenging the Richmond City Council’s approval of Chevron’s refinery expansion project today.

At issue is an environmental review that concealed that the project would result in much higher pollution. Communities in Richmond, particularly low-income and communities of color, are severely overburdened with industrial pollution-related health problems, including high rates of asthma and cancer. Chevron’s refinery is the largest industrial polluter in the region.

The expansion would allow heavier and dirtier crude oil to be processed at the Richmond refinery, which would increase releases of mercury, selenium, toxic sulfur compounds, and greenhouse gases. The City Council approved the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and Conditional Use Permit for Chevron’s expansion project despite the fact that the impacts of refining dirtier and more polluting oil were not disclosed, analyzed, or mitigated by the EIR.

“Chevron’s project would lock in a fundamental switch to dirtier oil refining that increases toxic and climate-poisoning pollution drastically when avoiding these impacts is feasible,” said Greg Karras, a senior scientist with Communities for a Better Environment (CBE). “The City violated the community’s right to know about and act on this information,” he said.

“The City Council failed its legal and moral obligation to protect our health,” said Richmond resident, Torm Nompraseurt, of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network. “Those dangerous chemicals are going to affect me, my family, and my neighbors but the City didn’t even look at what Chevron is really going to be doing.”

Hundreds of residents jammed the City Council hearings in July demanding the City Council limit the refinery from processing dirtier crude oils and re-do the Environmental Impact Report that failed to analyze the project Chevron actually plans to build. Community groups also advocated for Chevron to pay into a “Fund for Richmond’s Future” – a community-controlled fund to support the development of a cleaner and greener economy in Richmond.

Instead, Chevron made a multi-million dollar offer in exchange for project approval with weakened environmental protections and less public review of future refinery projects. Chevron valued its offer at about $61 million. City and Chevron officials negotiated a proposed contract to execute the deal without public input, and presented it at the City Council’s hearing on the project without public notice. The Council accepted the deal and approved the project without completing the environmental review needed to identify, analyze, and lessen or avoid its significant environmental impacts.

“Chevron must stop its toxic assault on poor people of color in Richmond. The City Council is selling out our community, but our health is not for sale,” said Henry Clark, executive director of the West County Toxics Coalition. “We will fight this until we achieve environmental justice.”

“The California Environmental Quality Act requires government agencies to look before they leap by analyzing and mitigating all significant environmental impacts” said Will Rostov, an attorney for Earthjustice, who represents the environmental justice groups in court. “The City’s environmental review fails in its most basic purpose.”

A poll conducted by David Binder Research indicated that an overwhelming majority (73 percent) of Richmond voters supported the City Council delaying a decision on the Chevron expansion until the environmental and health impacts of refining heavier crude oil were fully reviewed. In addition, 75 percent of Richmond voters said it was very or extremely important that any projects or funding between Chevron and the City Council be determined in an open public process.

The lawsuit was filed today in Contra Costa County Superior Court on behalf of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), and the West County Toxics Coalition by attorneys from Earthjustice and CBE.

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