On 2012 Labor Day-Enough Is Enough-Nationalize Chevron Under Worker-Community
Control and Prosecute The Criminals Running This Out Of Control Empire.
opinion/commentary/la-oe-0814-
Rally & Press Conference in Front of Richmond Chevron Refinery
Contact: Steve Zeltzer: (415)867-0628
Contact: Steve Zeltzer: (415)867-0628
Monday September 3, 2012 10:00 AM
841 Chevron Way, Richmond California 94801
Speakers from union and community.
Cindy Sheehan, Peace and Freedom Party Candidate For Vice President of the United States
Charles Smith, Richmond Resident and AFSCME 444 Delegate To Alameda Labor Council and United Public Workers For Action UPWA
Mark Mason, San Pablo Bay Ecological Preservation Association
Mary Flanagan, Richmond Teacher, Member of United Teachers Of Richmond UTR
Charles Rachlis, Industrial Hygienist/UPWA
The explosion and fire at the Chevron Richmond refinery is a man made disaster for the workers and community
in Richmond and the East Bay. It was caused by the criminal negligence of the Chevron corporation
which did not want to replace a worn gas pipe to save more money for the corporation. They continually
violate the environmental regulation and rules as well as OSHA rules and yet there are no serious actions taken
against them by these agencies and both the California government and US government.
This is for a company that made $26.9 billion last year.
The continuing contamination with 30% of the children of Richmond having Asthma and many other diseases
is unacceptable and an outrage to me and that is why I and Roseann Barr are calling for the immediate
seizure
and nationalization of the Chevron refinery and other oil companies and
for them to be run by workers and for the community and
people of California. This is not only a problem at Chevron but the many other refineries in California and the US.
We the people of the United States cannot be terrorized by these outfits like Chevron who pollute the world
and then terrorize people in the United States by their refusal to do proper maintenance on the refineries
here in the bay area and throughout the United States.
We support that the profits from a nationalized refinery be immediately put to use to prevent further
accidents, for the establishment of free healthcare for the people of Richmond and and for the funding
of education for the children of Richmond.
We are also calling for the criminal prosecution of Chevron managers, executives and owners for putting
the residents and workers in deadly danger and causing illness through their drive for profit.
We support a major program of the development of alternative energy sources including solar which should
be required on all new construction in the California and the US and a massive government funded program
for all housing in the state and the country along with mass transportation to limit the use of oil for automobiles.
We also condemn the silence of Governor Brown and the Obama administration about these continuing
man made disasters and the refusal to call for the criminal prosecution of these corporations.
In California Governor Brown has put the OSHA health and safety inspectors on furloughs even though they
are not paid for by the state budget and the 182 inspectors are not enough to properly protect the 18 million workers
of California.
On Labor Day September 3, I will be joining labor and community and environmental activists at the Chevron Refinery to
in Richmond to call for the refinery to be nationalized and for it to be run by the workers for the benefit of the workers and
community.
We cannot afford another Chevron disaster. Enough is Enough.
For more information contact
Chevron's refinery, Richmond's peril
The facility that caught fire violates pollution rules and is a daily threat to workers and neighbors.
juhasz-chevron-refinery-
People
view the fire at the Chevron Richmond Refinery. The fire burned out of
control for more than five hours, sending a giant black cloud of toxic
chemicals, including sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, thousands of
feet into the air and out across the bay. (Lance Iversen / San Francisco Chronicle / Associated Press / August 6, 2012)
|
August 14, 2012
Stay
inside, close your windows and doors, and turn off air conditioning and
heating units. Pets and all children in sporting activities should be
brought inside, and have duct tape ready should you need to further seal
windows and doors.
These
are among the "shelter in place" warnings made to Bay Area residents
last week in response to a massive fire at theChevron Corp.refinery in
Richmond. The fire burned out of control for more than five hours,
sending a giant black cloud of toxic chemicals, including sulfur dioxide
and nitrogen oxide, thousands of feet into the air and out across the
bay. While automated calls went to more than 18,000 people, some 160,000
residents live in the areas directly affected by the warning. More than
5,700 people have sought medical treatment.
Chevron is
the world's eighth-largest corporation and hands-down the largest in
California. The Richmond refinery is also the state's single largest
contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, having released 4.5 million
metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2010 alone.
Built
in 1902, the refinery shows its age. Rather than use its $27 billion in
2011 profits to run the cleanest, safest and most transparent refinery
possible, Chevron operates a refinery that is in constant violation of
federal and state law and a daily threat to the health and safety of its
workers and neighbors.
More
than 25,000 people, including those in two public housing projects,
live within just three miles of the refinery. Nearly 85% of the
residents live below the federal poverty line; the same percentage is
listed as "minorities" according to the U.S. Census. Within one mile of
or abutting the refinery are businesses, houses, an elementary school
and playgrounds.
Since
at least April 2009, the refinery has been in noncompliance of the
Clean Water Act and the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
in every quarter but one. Until July 2010, the refinery had been in
"high-priority violation" of Clean Air Act compliance standards, the
most serious level of violation noted by the EPA,
since at least 2006. Under constant pressure from community
organizations, Chevron has been assessed hundreds of thousands of
dollars in penalties for repeated Clean Air Act violations — nearly 100
citations in just the last five years, including 23 in 2011 alone.A 2008
study by UC Berkeley and Brown University researchers concluded that
the air inside some Richmond homes was more toxic than that outside
because of harmful pollutants from the refinery being trapped indoors.
The
Contra Costa County Health Services Department lists the residents of
Richmond as one of the "most at-risk groups" in the county: They are
hospitalized for chronic diseases at significantly higher rates than the
county average, including for female reproductive cancers,
which are more than double the county rate. Chevron is one of four
refineries in Contra Costa County where nearby incidence of breast,
ovarian and prostate cancers are the second highest in California, and
where nearby residents suffer higher rates of asthma, childhood asthma and asthma-related deaths.
The
Aug. 6 fire is the third major disaster at the refinery in 12 years,
each caused by an old leaking pipe. In January 2007, an explosion rocked
the refinery, leading to a five-alarm fire. A leaking corroded pipe
"that should have been detached two decades ago," according to
investigators, was to blame. In 1999, an 18,000-pound plume of sulfur
dioxide smoke was released after an explosion caused by a leak in a pipe
that was more than 30 years old.
But
neither Richmond nor Chevron is alone. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board,
an independent federal agency that investigates major incidents at oil
refineries, concluded last month that nationwide safety at U.S.
refineries has not improved, despite scores of fatalities, over the last
decade, and won't until companies develop better safety systems.
In a 2007 report about BP's
2005 Texas City oil refinery disaster, which killed 15 workers, the
board warned of a pervasive "complacency toward serious safety risks"
across the leading oil companies' refinery operations. It called on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to "require these corporations to evaluate the safety impact of mergers, reorganizations, downsizing and budget cuts."
This year so far, serious oil refinery fires have broken out at a ConocoPhillips refinery
in Los Angeles, twice at one BP refinery in Indiana, and in Louisiana,
Oklahoma, Tennessee, Washington and at other locations. Using
industry-reported data, the United Steelworkers estimates that at least
one fire occurs every week at a U.S. oil refinery. Operating in
noncompliance with federal and state regulations, moreover, appears to
be all-but-standard operating procedure across the industry.
Oil
industry operations are not clean, safe or healthful. But they can
certainly be far cleaner, safer, more healthful and more transparent
than current industry practice.
Big
Oil is the wealthiest industry the world has known. The companies can
and must be forced through stricter federal and state regulation,
aggressive enforcement and direct community and worker oversight to be
held to the highest possible standard, including current law.
Richmond
has always been a company town. But in 2006 its residents rebelled,
rejecting Chevron's handpicked political candidates and electing as
mayor the Green Party's Gayle McLaughlin. State and federal officials
who serve as the industry's handmaidens should anticipate an even
broader rebellion as the outcome of this latest tragic, yet painfully
predictable, oil company disaster.
Antonia
Juhasz is the author of several books on the oil industry, including
"The Tyranny of Oil." She is also the editor and lead author of three
Alternative Annual Reports on Chevron and the former director of the
Chevron Program at San Francisco-based Global Exchange.
Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times
Labor/Community Rally initiated by United Public Workers For Action UPWA
Enough Is Enough-Labor Community Control Of Richmond's Chevron Refinery
Labor Day Rally 9/3/2012 For Public Worker/Community Control Of Richmond Chevron Refinery
Whereas, there have have been continuous fires at the Chevron refinery for many years
including this past August 6, 2012 at unit 4 and in 1999 when another unit burned and,
Whereas, the management and owners of the Chevron refinery have refused to provide
proper health and safety protection for the workers and community and
Whereas, this company made $26.9 billion last year yet refuses to provide compensation for
the contamination of the the community and an epidemic of asthma and cancer directly
caused by the emissions of the plant.
Whereas, the company refuses to provide information about the contaminants and the dangers
that have been spewing into the community and,
Whereas, by their putting profit before health and safety of the workers and the community they
have lost the right their right to operate a refinery in California and,
Whereas, working people should be in control of the energy industry for real energy efficiency and
mass transportation and alternative energies and,
Whereas, their labor and
to fight demands by refinery
the community for stronger
environmental and health and safety laws and,
Whereas the profits from the
Chevron refinery have not been used for education and
people of Richmond,
California and the people of California,
Therefore be it resolved we
support a rally on Labor Day September 3, 2012 at 10:00 AM at the Chevron
Richmond refinery located at 841 Chevron Way, Richmond California 94801
The demands of the rally are:
For the public control of of
the Chevron Refinery in Richmond and for it to be run
for the working people and
community.
For full compensation and lifetime full healthcare benefits for all residents of Richmond and for the refinery workers,
For criminal prosecution of
Chevron managers and owners for putting the workers and
deadly danger and violating
health and safety rules and environmental rules and,
Call for concurrence by all other affiliated bodies of this organization including the labor councils, state
organizations and national union.
Initiated By United Public Workers For Action
