Richmond Residents Angry About Chevron Fire

Bay City News—There was not enough time during a two-hour town hall meeting in Richmond Tuesday night to address infuriated residents' concerns surrounding a fire at the local Chevron oil refinery Monday.

The meeting was held to address those concerns a day after the 3-alarm fire broke out at the refinery, burning through the night and sending about 950 area residents to local hospitals with related illnesses. A panel including the refinery's general manager, Contra Costa County Health leaders and Richmond's city manager answered local residents' questions, often over shouts and boos.

Several hundred residents packed Richmond's Civic Center Auditorium for the meeting at 6 p.m. to demand answers about the fire that sent thick smoke, soot and other toxins into the air and prompted the county to issue a shelter-in-place, urging Richmond, North Richmond and San Pablo residents to stay inside their homes.

Nigel Hearne, the refinery's manager, apologized to community members for the fire and the concern it caused.

"Hopefully this is seen as a first right step to doing the right thing in the community," Hearne said. "Our goal is to be incident-free, and frankly, last night, we did not meet that expectation."

Hearne said Chevron's top priorities now are determining the root cause of the fire and ensuring safe access to the site for the refinery's workers as well as preventing future incidents.

"If we can get to the root cause of the incident, we can prevent it from happening again," he said.

Unsatisfied with Hearne's comments, many meeting attendees Tuesday night voiced their anger and fears over the fire's impact on their short-term and long-term health and safety as well as Chevron and the county's handling of the incident. A couple of dozen attendees carried signs with messages such as "People's Health, Not Corporate Wealth" or "Chevron out of Richmond." Some wore gas masks.

Several speakers who addressed Hearne and the rest of the panel Tuesday said they suffered irritation or illness as the refinery fire burned Monday night, from sore throats and shortness of breath to headaches.

"I saw a plume of smoke about 60 feet high ... with dirty air for me to breathe," said North Richmond resident the Rev. Kenneth Davis, of North Richmond Missionary Baptist Church. "How long can I hold my breath? What about our dogs, our cats, our horses — what about our children?"

In response to this and similar comments, Hearne repeatedly claimed responsibility for the fire and said Chevron is working to find out what caused it.

He also noted that Chevron has set up a claims form process to cover health care expenses and any property damage caused by the fire and smoke. Residents are encouraged to call (866) 260-7881 for more information.

Several community members Tuesday night also took issue with the county's emergency warning system, which alerted residents to the shelter-in-place advisory.

About 20,000 automated warning calls went out over the county's emergency alert system, county officials said Tuesday. Several residents said they received the county's automated phone call 30 minutes after the fire was reported, if at all.

"I didn't get a phone call — I did not hear sirens until about 7 o'clock," Richmond resident Donna Symon said. Like many others who addressed the panel, Symon demanded more information about the toxins emitted during the fire.

Earlier, Jim McKay of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District told the audience that tests had found 23 compounds in the air during the fire. But Chief Environmental and Hazardous Materials Officer Randy Sawyer said detectable levels of compounds such as ethanol and benzene were below harmful levels during the fire. Hearne described the compounds released as diesel-like.

Wendell Brunner, County Health Services' public health director, advised residents to wash off any residual soot from the fire on outdoor furniture with "soap and water", a comment that prompted shouts and boos from the crowd.

However, the bulk of community members' anger Tuesday night was directed at Chevron, and many said the community would be better off if Chevron packed up and left Richmond.

Some speakers, including Richmond resident Antwon Colird, disagreed. "Give them a chance — they've given our community so many resources," he said over boos and shouts. "Without Chevron in Richmond, we would be just like Vallejo — broke."

Another Richmond resident, Malik Seneferu, expressed his concern over the health effects of refinery fires like Monday's on his young family and his neighbors. "Someone earlier said, if Chevron leaves, we all die, but if Chevron stays, we all die, too," he said.

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