Environment
The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) is proposing tiered rate increases for households and commercial buildings. As the supply of water decreases, a surcharge will be added to the water use charges already on a consumer’s bill.
Tom Butt looked tired. At 8:00 p.m. on Election Day he finally sat down, stein of beer in hand, to wait for the results. He had been on his feet all day. Twelve hours earlier, the mayoral candidate had arrived to the first polling place on an itinerary of five, to do last-minute outreach.
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.
A lease agreement in May between Doctors Medical Center and the Lytton San Pablo Casino netted the troubled hospital $4.6 million. The deal keeps the hospital doors open for now, but was also the beginning of what may become a land grab by local investors.
The phone rang shortly after 6:30 p.m. It was a Monday night in August and Sam Singer was still at his office in downtown San Francisco, writing and brainstorming strategies for clients. He picked up. The call was from the Chevron refinery in Richmond. They were, they said, “having an issue.”
A unanimous vote from the Richmond City Council provided a $19 million promise to fund Doctors Medical Center over the next three years. The principle plan that the council members voted on was the $15 million allocated through the Chevron Environmental & Community Investment Agreement (ECIA), a $90 million package contingent upon the company’s $1 billion modernization of its Richmond refinery. Beyond the $15 million contribution in three annual installments the council also approved an urgent $4 million cash infusion,…
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) passed a resolution last Wednesday meant to cut refinery emissions, such as greenhouse gases, by 20 percent.
Thanks to an electronic waste recycling service, electronic gadgets that have reached the end of their lives will no longer end up in a landfill. Richmond residents came to drop off their end-of-life or unwanted electronics for free recycling last Saturday at Hilltop Mall. The unwanted electronics will be sent to a de-manufacturing line, according to Martin Sarkis, a staff member at BlueStar Electronics, which co-hosted the event. Computers and other electronic devices will be dismantled and separated into valuable…
San Francisco Bay Keeper, an environmental group, reached an agreement on Friday with a storage company it sued two years ago for allegedly polluting San Francisco Bay, violating the Clean Water Act, and endangering the health of wildlife and neighboring communities.