Company Town
After the deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion five years ago, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. launched a statewide upgrade to its gas safety program. Richmond will receive its PG&E pipeline safety makeover in the upcoming weeks. PG&E said it was introducing its Community Pipeline Safety Initiative to improve access to transmission lines for first responders in the event of an emergency, partly by removing or replacing trees. The utility said Richmond has 43 trees on public property needing replacement, while…
Richmond’s 2014 election was defined by Chevron Corp.’s failed effort to get their favored candidates elected despite spending more than $3 million through an array of independent expenditure committees. Some have raised concerns about coordination between political candidates and these committees.
Two years after a series of explosions and fires tore through Chevron’s Richmond refinery, city officials are pressing ahead with their lawsuit against the oil giant.
Harriet Rowan and Jimmy Tobias, Richmond Confidential reporters and students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, published an article for The Nation website that explores Chevron’s continuing influence in Richmond after losing big in the election.
Richmond’s relationship with Chevron Corporation hasn’t always been so contentious. For much of the 20th century, after Chevron’s earliest predecessor, the Pacific Coast Oil Company, first bought a tract of land on Richmond’s shores in 1901, the company and the town grew together – if not hand in hand, then at least peacefully and cognizant of their mutual benefit. The two world wars were especially productive times for both the refinery and Richmond, as wartime production levels fueled a transforming,…
Chevron-funded spending committees backed several losing candidates – to the tune of $3.1 million – on Election Day. Those who were defeated are now left to wonder what happened and whether Chevron’s money may have hurt rather than helped.
Three minutes past midnight, Eduardo Martinez walks out of the Richmond Progressive Alliance office. He turns around and stares back in. Still no final result. He waves goodnight to his supporters. It’s Martinez’s third time running for the Richmond City Council.
As voters head to the polls, the nation’s eyes will be on Richmond as the city decides the future of its leadership. Not only are Richmonders electing a new mayor and new city council members, but they’re also passing judgement on the effects of unlimited political spending.
If you go to the website explosive-crude-by-rail.org and zoom in on Richmond, what you’ll find is disconcerting. According to the 1-3 mile buffer zone on the map, the entire city and its 107,000 residents are in danger if trains carrying crude oil explode.