Climate
Scientists, urban designers, elected officials and over 40 residents gathered on Tuesday night at the RYSE Youth Center in Richmond to discuss how the city should respond to sea level rise. The event, hosted by The Watershed Project, was created to support the development of Richmond’s Sea Level Rise Adaptation and Resiliency Plan, which was mandated by a 2023 state law. Attendees mingled around photographs and maps of Richmond’s 32 miles of shoreline. They watched naturalists from The Watershed Project…
Last in a two-part series on Richmond’s exploration into wind turbine manufacturing. This series is part of “The Stakes,” a UC Berkeley Journalism project on executive orders and actions affecting Californians and their communities. The Trump Administration is putting a dent in Richmond’s plans to assemble offshore wind turbines, following an onslaught of actions against clean energy. Richmond has hoped to assemble turbines for the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation & Conservation District in Eureka. The district is building an offshore…
First in a two-part series on Richmond’s exploration into wind turbine manufacturing. This series is part of “The Stakes,” a UC Berkeley Journalism project on executive orders and actions affecting Californians and their communities. After decades of manufacturing declines, Richmond leaders have a new pitch: retool the city’s industrial legacy for clean energy. In October, California placed a bet on that vision. The California Energy Commission awarded Richmond a $750,000 grant to study the feasibility of bringing wind turbine manufacturing…
Richmond is preparing to spend $1 million over the next two years to collect new data on every tree in the city, build tree management software, and develop long-term plans for planting and maintenance. The last tree inventory was completed 12 years ago. Since then, Richmond has not had a system to update tree records, tracking declining ones and planning for new ones. “We’re very excited to move forward,” said Jason Lacey, parks maintenance superintendent, who announced the grant during…
The morning air smelled of damp soil as the volunteers’ shovels struck buried rocks, glass bottles and bits of old plastic, reminders that the area was once a dumping ground. On Saturday morning, this stretch of land in Richmond’s Greenway was being reborn, as roughly 50 volunteers, from children to retirees, gathered for the city’s 14th annual Arbor Day celebration. Over the course of three hours, volunteers planted 29 trees along the Richmond Greenway. The nonprofit Groundwork Richmond, which improves…
Asked to be a better neighbor, Chevron has agreed to be more transparent in reporting off-site pollution, to file quarterly reports about it, and to engage the Richmond community on how it can better present pollution data. The Bay Area Air District said Tuesday Chevron is the first of the area’s five refineries to agree to be more transparent in measuring pollutants near its property lines. The refineries don’t have a good track record with the monitoring program. The Air…
“The Stakes” is a UC Berkeley Journalism project on executive orders and actions affecting Californians and their communities. For months community members devoted to reducing pollution and improving the quality of life for vulnerable people in Richmond and other parts of the Bay Area have been stuck in limbo, hoping that the EPA grants they were told they won wouldn’t be taken away. On Friday, after promising these groups millions of dollars and then cutting off access to the money…
“The Stakes” is a UC Berkeley Journalism project on executive orders and actions affecting Californians and their communities. Sometime since Friday, when Contra Costa County officials last checked on an anticipated grant for North Richmond, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suspended the promised $19 million, marking the second time the grant has been put on hold since President Donald Trump tried to freeze federal grants in January. The suspension throws into question several community development projects to improve the environment,…
Dozens of community members gathered at Richmond Memorial Auditorium Wednesday to imagine Richmond’s economic future, expressing concerns about economic hardship, pollution and a lack of community spaces. The event is part of a series called “Our Future Economy,” which the UC Berkeley Othering & Belonging Institute is hosting along with the mayor’s office to devise ways to transform the economy for communities, workers and climate well-being. Othering & Belonging says on its website that Richmond was selected for a number…