For video, see: http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/overhaul-approved-troubled-california-refinery/ngrT4/.
Posted: 10:56 p.m. Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Overhaul approved for troubled California refinery

By Heather Holmes

KTVU
RICHMOND, Calif. —
There's talk of a new lawsuit to stop Chevron from moving forward with a $1 billion modernization project at its Richmond refinery.
This comes less than 24 hours after the oil giant won unanimous approval Tuesday for the upgrade from the Richmond City Council.
"We're gravely disappointed," said Andres Soto with the group Communities for a Better Environment.
The organization sued to shop Chevron's original expansion plan almost a decade ago and Wednesday Soto hinted that another lawsuit is possible.
"We got about 70 percent of what we wanted but we're looking for 100 percent guarantee for the community's health and safety," Soto told KTVU.
He admits this smaller project, approved at midnight by the Richmond City Council, is better than the one first proposed in 2005.
Chevron has now agreed to limit the refinery's greenhouse gas emissions and spend $90 million in Richmond on job training, college scholarships and other programs.
"I think it's a good project," said Councilman Tom Butt. "It meets all of the objectives. It's cleaner. It's safer and it's going to provide 1,000 jobs."
Sal Vaca supports the project too. As Richmond's director of employment and training, Saca says the additional jobs will have an immediate impact in the working class city where the unemployment rate hovers around 10 percent. "This project, the number of jobs and investment in training, is going to help us move the dial on decreasing the unemployment rate here in our community."
It is clear that the tug of war over the economic and environmental impact that has been so contentious at city meetings for years, continues to divide.
"While I think it's better than what Chevron originally proposed. It could have been much better and we're looking forward to trying to make that happen," Soto said. "This thing is not over yet."

Richmond Approves Stalled Modernization Plan At Chevron Refinery
By admin On July 31, 2014 ·

Malcolm Marshall, Richmond Pulse

Chevron’s century-old Richmond refinery moved a step closer to a $1 billion upgrade following approval from the city’s councilmembers Tuesday night.
In a contentious meeting that lasted late into the night, the Richmond City Council approved the controversial upgrade to the refinery, with a 5-0-2 vote by the Council—Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and Vice Mayor Jovanka Beckles abstained from voting.
The approved project went against the city Planning Commission’s recommendations, which called for an increase in money for health and wellness programs, a greater reduction of greenhouse gases and pre 90’s pipe replacements.
It was a victory in a long fought battle for Chevron. In 2009, environmental groups stopped a previous version of the project in Contra Costa County Superior Court because of an incomplete environmental impact report.
“I feel great about it from a policy standpoint,” said councilmember Jael Myrick on Wednesday. “Once that fact was clear that this will decrease health risks for Richmond residents, then it became a no brainer to me. The project we approved last night is good for the environment.”
San Ramon based Chevron Corp. says that the upgrade will replace the refinery’s hydrogen plant with modern equipment and allow for more production of crude oil with high sulfur content.
According to Chevron’s refinery spokesperson Melissa Ritchie, “The Refinery Modernization Project will make the refinery newer, safer and cleaner. We are replacing the existing 1960s hydrogen plant with modern technology that is inherently safer, cleaner and 20 percent more energy efficient.”
Many in Richmond have fought against the modernization project, saying that it does not go far enough in reducing health risks for Richmond’s residents. Emotions were especially high in the Richmond Auditorium, during Tuesday night’s city council meeting, as more than 80 people passionately spoke before the council voted on the project that has divided the community.
“I’ve been in Richmond almost 60 years,” said Kathy Robinson. “This company does not care about this community.
That’s what kind of company you have.”
But, not all who spoke were opposed to Chevron, or its proposed upgrades. “Most of us arrived here tonight driving automobiles that use fossil fuels,” Tom Waller of Hercules said. “The company produces the products that this society desires and needs. I don’t know of any community in the world that would not want to have a billion dollar project brought into its community.”
Mayor McLaughlin wrote in an email that it was at least a partial victory for the city.
“We pushed Chevron as it was never pushed before over these years up to the present and got serious concessions out of it,” wrote McLaughlin of how the proposed upgrade has changed since the company’s first proposal six years ago. “We are proud of this.”
According to Councilmember Tom Butt, the vote concludes the City Council phase of a more than three-year permit application process for Chevron.
“For me, getting there was as hard and frustrating as any political process I have ever worked on,” Butt wrote on his online e-forum. “What we did was neither a sellout nor a triumph, but I am satisfied with the outcome.”
Under the plan approved on Tuesday, Chevron will invest $90 million in local community projects over the next decade, including scholarships for students, job training programs, and grants to nonprofits.
Next for Chevron is a trip back to Contra Costa County Superior Court where the oil giant will seek to lift the 2009 judgment before it can continue work on the modernization project.
Councilmember Myrick said the deal reached wasn’t ideal, but was perhaps the best compromise for now.
“In a perfect world, yes, the recommendations of the planning commission would make us safer,” said Myrick. “But in reality it would have led to Chevron walking away from this project entirely and the good things in this project wouldn’t have been able to happen if we had approved their recommendations.”