City of Richmond Finds Oil Crude

A few months ago in Richmond a packed city council meeting showed a turnout of over 1000 citizens who delivered passionate pleas against Chevron's plan to expand its waterfront refinery. The existing 3,000-acre plant is slated for a renovation to include a new power plant and a crude-oil refining facility, the combination of which would process material containing higher levels of sulfur and other contaminants. Although the Richmond Planning Commission did initially approve the plan by imposing a cap on the amount of crude oil processed, it reversed its decision back in June, lifting the cap because a city-hired consultant concluded that the refinery's emissions are already limited, thus rendering such limits unnecessary.

Those in favor of the refinery expansion give reasons that support both the environment and the work force. Chevron's position is that the new facility will produce an insignificant increase in air pollution, and that the project would actually decrease emissions overall. Labor groups are in support of this expansion, since a significant number of new jobs will be created by this construction and increase in refinery population.

But the opposition, particularly environmental groups, vehemently condemns this development, saying it would release dangerous amounts of mercury, selenium and sulfur into both air and water. They feel that, contrary to statements by Chevron's specialists and city-hired consultants, the potential for more emissions is exponential because the facility will allow for the processing of lower-quality crude. Before the meeting, Chevron offered the city approximately $61 Million in health, education, environmental, and alternative energy programs to mitigate for the project, but environmental groups found this to be insignificant, stating that Chevron was required to do much of this program anyway. At the very least, representatives of the city feel, Chevron should offer all the requisite programs to the residents of Richmond, as well as securing that the project will not cause any increase in air or water pollution.

Mitigation is a tricky thing indeed.