top
East Bay
East Bay
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Fri Mar 14 2008 (Updated 03/22/08)
Direct Action and Rally at Chevron Richmond Refinery
Community Protests Chevron's Role in War, Warming, Toxics and Human Rights
On Saturday March 15th, activists and community members protested the war in Iraq, environmental racism and global warming by blockading the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, CA. A coalition which includes health, environmental and anti-war organizers had called for people to shut down the Chevron refinery for the day in support of community efforts to stop Chevron from expanding its Richmond refinery. An expansion will increase pollution and cause asthma, cancer and rising death rates in surrounding communities.

Chevron was shut down all day in anticipation of the protest. Protesters marched to one of the main gates of the refinery and people laid out lock down tubes and barrels and up to 50 people locked themselves down. Bands played, and there was street theater and food. The police had the entrance blocked with barricades. After several hours, the lockdown was ended. Protesters held a circle gathering then quickly moved the barricades and went toward Chevron. Police were startled but formed a line and people sat down. Other people took down the rest of the barricade and put it out in the intersection to keep the street closed. People sat in front of the police for several more hours. Eventually the police arrested 25 people. Protest organizers say that Chevron is driving the war and occupation in Iraq, refining over a million barrels of stolen Iraqi oil in Richmond a month, and actively lobbying for the privatization of Iraq's oil fields.
imc_photo.gif Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | imc_video.gif Video: 1 | 2 | imc_audio.gif Audio

Chevron has a long and highly profitable history with Iraq—one it wants to see significantly expanded. Most recently, Chevron has teamed-up with Total to bid on Iraq’s fourth largest oil field, the Majnoon field. Chevron hopes to produce oil in the field under the terms of the Iraq Oil Law. It has continued regular negotiations with Iraq’s leading government officials in pursuit of the best contract deals possible, while the Bush administration pressures the Iraqis to pass the Iraq Oil Law.

In Richmond, a city with a population of about 100,000, the vast majority of whom are low-income people of color, 17,000 people live within just three miles of the Chevron refinery, including in two public housing projects. Built in 1902, the Chevron Richmond Refinery is one of the oldest and largest refineries operating in the U.S. To refine its capacity of 87.6 million barrels of crude oil per year—240,000 barrels a day—the refinery produces over two million pounds of climate-poisoning, smog-forming and toxic air and water pollutants each year. Event Announcement

see also: Protests During 5th Anniversary of US Bombing and Invasion of Iraq || Previous Coverage: Richmond March Demands Environmental Justice

2024-02-09 Catholic Anti-Choice Marchers Get an Earful from Abortion Rights Activists in San Francisco Front Page | Health, Housing & Public Services | Womyn | San Francisco | South Bay | U.S.2024-01-10 Wall of Shipping Containers Intended to Keep the Public Out of People's Park Front Page | Police State & Prisons | Environment & Forest Defense | Global Justice & Anti-Capitalism | East Bay | California2023-12-08 Largest Ever Pro-Palestine Marches in NorCal Demand End to US Aid for Israel's War on Gaza Front Page | Anti-War | Central Valley | San Francisco | South Bay | Peninsula | U.S. | International | Palestine | Santa Cruz Indymedia2023-10-31 Three Activists Detained at Climate Protest for Crossing Beale Air Force Base Gate Front Page | Environment & Forest Defense | Anti-War | Central Valley | California | U.S.2023-09-29 California Climate Justice Actions in Coordination with Massive New York City March Front Page | Environment & Forest Defense | Central Valley | California2023-08-19 Environmentalists Speak Out Against Airport Expansion as Climate Disasters Accelerate Front Page | Environment & Forest Defense | East Bay2023-08-12 Starbucks Bus Tour Stops in San Francisco, Rallies with Allies to Support Unionization Front Page | Labor & Workers | San Francisco | Peninsula | California | U.S.2023-07-19 Halt to Fossil Fuel Funding Demanded as Wells Fargo Operations Shut Down Environment & Forest Defense | Global Justice & Anti-Capitalism | San Francisco | U.S.2023-07-13 Demonstrations Wrack France, Boiling Over After Police Murder of Youth Police State & Prisons | Health, Housing & Public Services | Global Justice & Anti-Capitalism | LGBTI / Queer | International | Government & Elections | Immigrant Rights2023-07-02 A Call for Pride to Return to its Roots as a Riot in Defense of LGBTQ+ Rights Health, Housing & Public Services | LGBTI / Queer | Womyn | San Francisco2023-05-31 Reactionary "Street Art" Campaign Backed by Billionaire Michael Moritz Targeted by Graffiti Artists Police State & Prisons | Health, Housing & Public Services | Global Justice & Anti-Capitalism | Drug War | Arts + Action | San Francisco
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$80.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network