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Chevron: Contra Costa Times July 25 letters

Dateline: 
07/25/2008
As the Times reported on July 18, "Chevron refinery plan approved," a narrow Richmond City Council majority approved Chevron's plans for expanding its Richmond refinery.

The council had the opportunity — indeed, the obligation — to ensure the project not proceed without important public health and environmental safeguards in place, to be negotiated in a public and transparent process.

However, the council majority (Maria Viramontes, Nat Bates, John Marquez, Ludmyrna Lopez, and Harpreet Sandhu) betrayed the communities they were elected to represent.

Ardent concerns expressed by Richmond families, neighborhood groups, environmentalists and even State Attorney General Jerry Brown fell on deaf ears.

Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and council members Tom Butt, Tony Thurmond and Jim Rogers displayed integrity and courage to insist that Chevron act responsibly in its expansion plans.

A distant light shines in the darkness of this disgraceful decision. In November, if Bates, Marquez, and Sandhu have the gall to ask voters to return them to the council, Richmond voters have a golden opportunity to restore democracy, decency and accountability by saying "never again" to them.

Kay Wallis

Richmond
Source: 
Contra Costa Times

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