Feature Archives

In an unprecedented victory for community and environmental groups, the California State Court of Appeals has upheld the majority of findings in a lower court decision that the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the expansion of Chevron's refinery in Richmond violated state environmental law. Community members have been campaigning to fight the proposed switch to refining dirtier, heavier oil for several years, and last year, a lower court issued an injunction stopping further work on the refinery expansion.

On April 15th, a new direct action group calling themselves “Offset This!” disrupted the “Navigating the American Carbon World” conference at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco. The protesters said that carbon trading is a false solution that distracts attention from the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions. One protester was arrested after causing a ruckus during the plenary session.

Earth Day 2010 will take place on Saturday, April 17th from 11am to 4pm, rain or shine, at the San Lorenzo Park in Santa Cruz. There will be activities for kids, educational information, live music, a river clean-up, a compost workshop, an earthen plaster demonstration, and much more.

On March 23rd some San Francisco Board of Supervisors, community groups, and local residents held a press conference on the steps of City Hall to denounce the "lies and manipulations" in Pacific Gas and Electric' mailers and television commercials over Proposition 16. Supervisors also took this time to re-iterate their commitment to Clean Power SF, which is a plan adopted in 2007 that will set San Francisco on the path to using clean renewable energy from cheaper sources.

Santa Cruz Water Department and Soquel Creek Water District have embarked on a plan for a desalination plant, a highly energy intensive way to increase the water supply. The greenhouse gases that such a plant would produce have inspired opposition. A forum on Thursday, March 18th at Live Oak Elementary School features Bill Kocher from the Santa Cruz Water Department and Debbie Cook, former mayor of Huntington Beach, and author of "Desalination, Energy Down the Drain."

For over three years, a community has resisted the development of a massive coal-fired power plant in the Navajo Nation called Desert Rock, blockading roads and occupying a permanent campsite. On March 17th, Elouise Brown, president of the Doodá Desert Rock committee, will launch an 11-day tour of California to speak about the dangers posed by the coal industry, the exploitation of indigenous land by energy companies, and the ongoing struggle to stop development of Desert Rock.

On January 9, the Raging Grannies joined worker safety advocates in protesting plans by Tesla Motors, Inc. to build an auto assembly plant in Downey, California. Downey is the location of a major film studio built on the site of a former NASA plant that produced spacecraft for the Apollo moon missions. Despite cleanup efforts meant to protect workers from the toxic residue of aerospace experiments and manufacturing, dozens of film production workers have developed severe health problems while working in Downey. Some never recovered.