Racial Justice is Environmental Justice

March 22, 2021 Jordan Armstrong

Following the murders of George Floyd, Ahmoud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police, 75[1] % of S&P 250 companies made a statement supporting the racial justice movement. However, many of these same companies are contributing to Environmental Racism – the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people of color (POC). To truly be allies for the Racial Justice Movement, corporations need to acknowledge that environmental racism is part of the systemic racism that POC face and that they have a responsibility to correct these injustices.

Environmental Racism

From Flint’s lead-filled water to Richmond’s poisoned air – corporations and municipal governments have been allowed to pollute and poison marginalized communities. Historically, banks and local governments engaged in redlining- a practice to limit housing loans to people of certain races or ethnicity- which sharply limited property ownership among Blacks and created segregated communities. Within those communities, zoning and other regulations were lacking which led to them being targeted for developing land uses prohibited elsewhere. Because these communities by and large lacked political power, they were helpless to prevent this happening. Although redlining has nominally been declared illegal, its legacies of segregation and polluting industries remains.

A recent study by the National Center for Environmental Assessment demonstrated that race had a stronger effect on exposure to pollutants than poverty, indicating that the disproportionate effect of pollution on Blacks and Latinos is rooted more in racism than in poverty[2]. Black people inhale 1.5 times more particulate matter than white people. This specifically includes PM 2.5, the haze-causing particles[3] so small that they can slip into our lungs and bloodstream, causing significant health effects and ultimately lowering life expectancy[4].

Marginalized groups are also disproportionately affected by global warming[5]. Health problems, such as asthma caused by localized pollution are further exacerbated by rising global temperatures. extreme weather events also disproportionately affect marginalized communities, as they often live in areas that are given less infrastructure to deal with disasters. During Hurricane Katrina, over half of the 1833 people who were tragically killed were Black[6].

Environmental Justice in Richmond, California

In Richmond California, only 8 miles from As You Sow’s Berkeley office, Chevron’s 100-acre refinery processes over 250,000 barrels of crude oil a day. They store 11 million tons of toxic materials on sight, and during their all-too-frequent fires (1989, 1999, 2012) expose their local community to these hazardous chemicals. More than 80% of Richmond’s population are people of color and the median income of the city is below the state average with 15% of residents living in poverty (Cagle, 2019)[7]. According to the EPA, residents, both adults and children, near the refinery are in the 99th percentile for asthma in the country. Children in Richmond have double the national average asthma rate[8]

On February 9th 2021, 600 gallons of oil flooded into the San Francisco Bay, leaked from the Richmond Refinery. This leak is just one piece of a long history of the Chevron Refinery’s history of pollution, and the localized effects of the spill, unclean air and polluted water, significantly affect the local communities[9].

Chevron’s Responsibility to the Richmond Community

Chevron was one of the many corporations that released a statement following the death of George Floyd. Chief HR officer Rhonda Morris[10] stated “For Chevron, this is an opportunity to do an honest appraisal of who we are as a company and what we stand for.” Chevron should take this opportunity to look at how they are perpetuating Environmental Injustice in Richmond, and what they can do to fix it.

CEO Mike Worth made a commitment as a member of the Business Roundtable[11] : “We Commit to... supporting the communities in which we work. We respect the people in our communities and protect the environment by embracing sustainable practices across our businesses.” Mr. Worth should perpetuate these words through actionable policies and demonstrate a commitment to safety for the community in the short term and develop a plan for a full transition to clean energy in the future.

Chevron owes its investors a safe investment. Chevron is currently extremely vulnerable to litigation[12] due to the proven negative impact of its refinery. They must consider this monetary risk with the continued operation of their Richmond facility.

A lawsuit has already been filed regarding their most recent spill into the bay[13]. They must consider this monetary risk with the continued operation of their Richmond facility, and stop cutting corners on safety measures.

Chevron must publicly demonstrate their commitment to making the community safe. First, they should lead and release research examining their plant’s air pollution footprint. Secondly, Chevron must demonstrate a plan to decrease harmful emissions by a significant margin, as well as compensate the community for the cost of the pollution externality[14]. Lastly, Chevron must demonstrate to its shareholders a plan to evolve to our modern, carbon-neutral economy. We call Chevron to join its peers in adopting policies in line with the Paris Accord’s goals of minimizing climate change[15]. If Chevron truly means what they have said about their stance on racial justice and the value of Black lives, they will address this issue, and demonstrate a solution to their shareholders.

Written by: Jordan Armstrong, Racial Justice Initiative Research Associate

Works Cited

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Apte, Joshua S., et al. “Ambient PM2.5 Reduces Global and Regional Life Expectancy.” Environmental Science & Technology Letters, vol. 5, no. 9, 2018, pp. 546–551., doi:10.1021/acs.estlett.8b00360.
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Newkirk, V. (2018, February 28). Trump's EPA Concludes Environmental Racism Is Real. From The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/the-trump-administration-finds-that-environmental-racism-is-real/554315/
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