The Richmond City Council voted unanimously this week to add a measure to the November ballot that would tax Chevron to offset environmental impacts caused by its refinery.
If a majority of Richmond voters approves the plan come November, the measure would tax Chevron $1 for each barrel of oil processed at the company’s Richmond refinery over the next 50 years.
The refinery is the third-largest in the state, per data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And according to a presentation given during the council meeting Tuesday, the tax could generate as much as $90 million per year for the city.
“I believe that this measure will show Richmond as a responsible city, a forward-looking city, a cutting-edge city,” Councilmember Gayle McLaughlin said.
The proposal, dubbed the “Polluters Pay” measure, generated significant interest in the community, with more than 100 people showing up in person to give public comment. Community groups sponsoring the proposal also held a rally outside the council chambers before the meeting.
Proponents argue that the tax will help the city remedy effects of pollution from the refinery. For example, neighborhoods next to the refinery suffer some of the state’s highest asthma rates, according to data from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
“The care that I offer as a pediatrician is only a Band-Aid — it’s not fixing the root problem,” said Dr. Amanda Millstein, a Richmond pediatrician. “The Polluters Pay measure could address one major source of chronic asthma and ER visits in Richmond.”
Chevron calls measure ‘a power grab’
But critics worry that Chevron, Richmond’s largest employer by a large margin, might lay off workers or even pull out of the city entirely if the proposal passes.
Chevron believes that Richmond crafted the proposal without enough community input, company spokesperson Allison Cook wrote in a statement Wednesday. And after Chevron engages the community in discussions, the company expects Richmond to reject the proposal’s approach, Cook wrote.
“The vote last night was not about improving the lives of people in Richmond,” Cook said in the statement. “It was a power grab by activist organizations and city councilmembers who put their interests ahead of the community’s interest.”
“I don’t mind my legacy being tied into voting ‘yes’ to putting this on the ballot and letting the rest of the 115,000 people who live in the city of Richmond decide if industries have been good neighbors or not.” Councilmember Melvin Willis
The current proposal is not the city’s first attempt to tax Chevron for refining oil in the area. The city passed a tax in 2008, but it was struck down by a Contra Costa County Superior Court judge a year later. But in a memo to city councilmembers, outside attorneys assured them that the Polluters Pay measure was legally sound and would hold up in court.
Should the ballot measure pass, it takes a significant amount of control out of the hands of city politicians. During the meeting, city staff clarified that only voters, through a subsequent ballot measure, could alter the tax rate charged to Chevron.
“I don’t mind my legacy being tied into voting ‘yes’ to putting this on the ballot and letting the rest of the 115,000 people who live in the city of Richmond decide if industries have been good neighbors or not,” City Councilmember Melvin Willis said.
