Activists Demanded Chevron “Cap the Crude,” Provide Safe Jobs, And  Call For Climate Justice in the Lead Up to Climate Talks in Copenhagen

Press Release from the Mobilization for Climate Justice

Community members marching in Richmond

Richmond, CA – Hundreds of Richmond community members joined climate change advocates, public health experts, local government and labor leaders today in a colorful march, protest and non-violent civil disobedience at Chevron’s Richmond refinery. After a festival outside the Richmond BART station with music, dancers and speakers, and an hour-long march that wound through the city streets, a mass die-in and nonviolent civil disobedience took place at the refinery gates. Thirteen people were arrested.

The actions outside Chevron were organized by a new coalition–The Mobilization for Climate Justice-West–whose goals are to get Chevron to “cap the crude” at its Richmond refinery and to get al l corporations, including Chevron, out of the international climate talks in Copenhagen in December. Chevron wants to process heavier crude at its Richmond refinery. Refining heavier crude will result in more air pollution, greater greenhouse gas emissions and disease.

“Chevron has the opportunity to do the right thing,” said Mayor of Richmond, Gayle McLaughlin. “They just need to agree to capping the crude at the level they currently refine.  We want them to put Richmond’s residents to work modernizing and replacing the 80 year old boilers, which sadly they chose to remove from the project several months ago. ”   “We want Chevron to build a cleaner and safer refinery,” said Ana Orozco of Communities for A Better Environment.  ”We want the union jobs to continue to build a refinery that is cleaner and safer for our community.  Our community has been put at risk for too long.”

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