Air District report says living near Chevron is harmful to health; residents have until Nov. 23 to comment
on November 7, 2026
The Bay Area Air District recently released a draft health assessment showing that air pollution from the Chevron Richmond Refinery puts people who live near the plant at a far higher risk of getting cancer.
The assessment, released in August, estimates 37 residents out of 1 million currently run the risk of contracting cancer over a lifetime of exposure. That is three to four times higher than the Air District’s health risk threshold of 10 out of every 1 million people. If preliminary findings are accurate, Chevron will be required to create a plan to lower the harmful effects of its refinery emissions. But before that happens, the public has an opportunity to review the report and submit comments until Nov. 23.
For some residents, like Katherine Lee, a youth organizer with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, the high cancer risk reflects her family’s experience.
“We cannot ignore the Bay Area Air District’s recent preliminary findings,” she told the City Council last month. “Conversations about community health are deeply personal. My little cousin who is only 12 and grew up in Richmond, has been fighting cancer his whole life.”
Other residents, like Brenda Greenwood, are skeptical of the findings. “Everyone complains about Chevron,” she told Richmond Confidential, pointing out the interstate is another source of pollution in Richmond.
“Having traffic backed up for two miles on 580 for two or three hours every morning, that’s a whole lot more pollution that creates cancer risk than the refinery,” Greenwood said.
Philip Rosenthal, president of the Point Richmond Neighborhood Council, believes Chevron — the city’s biggest taxpayer — is already doing what it can to “keep the refinery clean.”
He also pointed to the long duration that someone would have to breathe the contaminated air to be at such a high risk for cancer — what the assessment calls a “maximally exposed individual,” or worst-case scenario for cancer risk.
“Am I dismissing the risk? No. Am I aware of the risk? Yes. Do I hope there’s a time when we won’t need the refinery? Yes,” Rosenthal said. “But right now, it is a billion dollars into our economy.”
The assessment found that the highest cancer risk is in Rosenthal’s neighborhood, south of the refinery. The risk decreases with distance from the refinery.
Rohan Radhakrishna, the Air District’s health officer, said during a Sept. 21 public meeting in Richmond that the assessment is “significant and narrow.” It’s significant because if Chevron reduces emissions, many potential pollutants could be lowered. And its limited, because it doesn’t look at the average risk to a resident. Rather, it looks at maximum exposure over 30 years, “not a family member, a mom or sister who has their own cancer risk,” he said.
A resident asked if emissions from Chevron could be connected to thyroid issues in their family.
The assessment was not designed to draw such connections, Radhakrishna said. It was designed to pinpoint specific sources of pollutants known to be linked with cancer and other health issues.
“No one should take a particular association between the health condition they have and the results from this assessment,” Radhakrishna said.
The assessment found a range of toxic emissions from Chevron, including diesel, arsenic, benzene, chromium and other pollutants.
The most significant cancer risk, about 74%, comes from benzoapyrene, a chemical compound that escapes through small leaks at pipe fittings and storage tanks across the refinery, the Air
District said in an Aug. 25 news release.
Radhakrishna said benzoapyrene mainly causes digestive system cancers. It can affect fetuses, as well as the reproductive system and the immune system.
The assessment also found significant short-term non-cancer health risk, driven by one-hour exposures to emissions from the refinery. The short-term risk comes primarily from benzene, which evaporates from the refinery’s wastewater treatment systems, according to the news release.
Chevron challenges findings
The Air District notes the health risk assessment is an estimate of health impacts that “comes with a level of uncertainty,” which it hopes to resolve by getting more site specific data.
In an email to Richmond Confidential, Chevron Corp. said the assessment doesn’t reflect its operations.
“A health-protective assessment should also be accurate. The Air District acknowledges that key assumptions in their draft report may overstate estimated risk,” the company said. “We agree and have identified outdated equipment and assumptions that do not reflect actual operations.”
Chevron said it will provide updated data to inform the final health risk assessment. If that new data shows the risk is above the district’s 10 in a million threshold, as the assessment found, Chevron will have to develop a plan to reduce emissions.
The plan would show how the facility would reduce health risks, or ensure that each source of pollution is equipped with emission control technology.
Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, who sits on the Air District board, said if the health risk comes in below the threshold and no risk reduction plan is required, that would be a good thing.
“That means that the risk is less than the original preliminary estimate,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s going to be the case. I will just say this, 37 is significantly above 10. And it is likelier that that risk will still be above 10.”
Gioia said a plan to lower emissions could take almost a year to develop
Ariana Husain, an engineer manager with the Air District, said at the Sep. 21 public meeting, the refinery would have five years to implement the plan. The Air District would work with Chevron to streamline the implementation.
This assessment is the first conducted under a rule passed in 2017 by the Air District board, which requires the district to assess health risk for industrial facilities like chemical plants and refineries.
The Air District used a range of studies and data collected between 2017 and 2025 to estimate that risk from Chevron. Husein said the Air District used meteorological, terrain and emissions data to estimate the health risk. She said Chevron collects and reports emissions data annually, which is verified by the Air District.
After the public comment period closes, the Air District will respond to the comments and review Chevron’s data before releasing the final assessment.
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