Posts Tagged ‘Company Town’
City, county settle Chevron tax disputes
Richmond and Contra Costa County have decided to wipe the slate clean with Chevron after nine years of ongoing property tax disputes involving millions of dollars in revenue. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a settlement regarding the county assessor’s property valuations of the Richmond refinery for the years 2004 to 2012.…
Read MorePanel discusses complex Chevron-Richmond relationship
Chevron plays a major role in the politics and the economy of the city of Richmond. But that relationship is anything but harmonious, as an audience at the UC Berkeley School of Law heard on Wednesday. Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia and oil and energy policy analyst Antonia Juhasz described the long history of conflict…
Read MoreRichmond mulls legal action against Chevron Corp. over refinery fire
The Richmond City Council is 30 days from pursuing litigation against Chevron Corporation if negotiations fail to secure compensation for the August 2012 refinery fire. Legislators are seeking money from the oil company for damages and for expenses incurred by the city after the accident. Council voted 5-2 to hire Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, an…
Read MoreChevron and Oakland A’s promote science education at Stege Elementary School
Oakland A’s mascot Stomper and second baseman Eric Sogard made a special appearance at Stege Elementary School Friday before their game against the Kansas City Royals. The floppy-eared mascot and spectacled major leaguer were in town to celebrate the academic fields of science, technology, engineering and math. This is the second year the Oakland A’s…
Read MoreChevron checks in with six non-profits that received $1 million in grants
Two years after giving $1 million dollars in grants to six non-profits, Chevron California Partnership hosted an event Tuesday to show how the organizations have used the donation. Each organization presented a video of their work and discussed how the money was used since receiving the grant in 2011. The California Partnership was established in…
Read MoreFeds approve results of Chevron fire investigation
On Aug. 6 of last year, the rough draft of a federal investigation says, an employee at the Chevron Richmond refinery noticed a puddle on the ground.
Read MoreEnvironmental group offers “toxic tour” of city
In late March 2013, a group of about 25 attended a “Toxic Tour” of Richmond led by Communities for a Better Environment organizer Andres Soto.
Read MoreSchool district asks for input from community to plan for the next five years
This weekend, the West Contra Costa Unified School District held the first of a series of public meetings to encourage residents to discuss how the next five years might look for public schools. On Saturday, about 130 people arrived at Ford Elementary School to participate in the first of six town hall meetings organized by…
Read MoreChevron reports cause of August 6 refinery fire
Chevron failed to properly document a thinning pipe in the Richmond refinery’s crude unit back in 2002, the company admitted Friday, when the oil giant released its findings from its own investigation into the cause of last August’s refinery fire. The company concluded sulfur corrosion, accelerated by low silicon content, caused the five-foot carbon steel pipe to…
Read MoreChevron fire investigators: Overhaul needed to prevent future incidents
Despite all the eyes on the Richmond Chevron refinery before last August’s fire, the plant’s corroded crude pipe still went unnoticed, federal and state officials said Friday. Federal and state investigators have determined Chevron disregarded its own safety policies and knowingly failed to replace the corroded pipe that ultimately burst, leading to the leaking gas…
Read MoreIndia, Chevron and monitoring pollution after toxic disasters
Shweta Narayan, one of India’s leading environmentalists, paid the Bay Area a visit last week and presented information about the importance of environmental monitoring when it comes to toxic disasters. For the past nine years, Narayan, and Global Community Monitor, a group based in El Cerrito, have collaborated on air pollution awareness campaigns in India,…
Read MoreAt council meeting, protesters call for tougher treatment of assistant city manager
Before Tuesday night’s city council meeting, more than 20 people gathered on the chamber steps holding signs—“Richmond needs accountability,” “Investigate little luxuries in Richmond,” and “Richmond United Against Corruption”—in reference to assistant city manager Leslie Knight, who heads the human resources department. The results of a city-funded investigation released last week showed that she had…
Read MoreChevron asks for new tax appeal judges
Chevron is worried that James Giacoma, Art Walenta and Clark Wallace might be holding a grudge. That’s one argument the oil company made in legal documents filed in January asking that the three be removed from the county tax appeals board–the most recent maneuver in Chevron’s nearly decade-long battle with Contra Costa County over the…
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