Children were starting to stream out of Peres Elementary School in Richmond, California, as activist Katt Ramos pointed towards a plume of smoke in the distance. Ramos is an activist who, at the time, helped to lead the Richmond chapter of Communities for a Better Environment. She was standing outside of the school in the Iron Triangle, the local name for a part of town defined by three railway tracks. The smoke was emanating from the vast Chevron refinery that borders the elementary school.
Chevron is Richmond’s largest employer—and its largest polluter. When it flares hazardous gases, or when mysterious, sulfurous smells suffuse the city, there is no daily newspaper to report on health concerns or keep residents in the know. The primary local news site, the Richmond Standard, largely avoids covering local health issues or the impact of Chevron’s facilities on people’s well-being. Perhaps because the site is owned by Chevron itself.
Given Richmond’s status as a news desert, most people here have come to accept the lack of deeply investigated stories, the kind that help keep corporations accountable. But plenty of locals are deeply aware of the implications of living in proximity to the refinery, and, like Ramos, have turned to their own activism and organizing. I spent time in Richmond interviewing and photographing local people, including former Chevron employees, activists, reporters, and politicians.
This work was done in conjunction with a project about news deserts and misinformation supported by Amplifier Art.
Chevron is not the only polluter in town—it’s located next to major interstates, railways, and industrial activity. Richmond deals with air pollution not seen in other parts of the Bay Area.Sara Hylton
A view of the Chevron refinery in Richmond. Chevron is the city’s largest employer, employing thousands of people, and its largest polluter. It also owns one of Richmond’s primary news sources, the Richmond Standard, which often runs stories similar to those on Chevron’s website. It rarely reports on health hazards or flares.Sara HyltonNancy Mardonado, 52, lives next to the Chevron refinery. Mardonado believes her health issues, including a heart operation, are the result of living in proximity to the refinery for over 40 years. Richmond has a large immigrant population; English isn’t the first language of many residents, who often rely on word of mouth for timely information about local health hazards.Sara Hylton
Karen Duran and her daughter, Luna, outside of their home in Richmond, California. Duran lived out of her car next to the Chevron refinery while she was pregnant with her daughter, who she feared would be born with abnormalities and birth defects because of the toxins Duran was exposed to. “Living there, I was so stressed out about that. Seeing the flares, that was scary as hell. Seeing the smoke coming out, that’s like another stressing thing, because they don’t tell you, they didn’t tell us anything.”Sara HyltonDowntown Richmond, a largely working-class community.Sara HyltonTom Butt served as Richmond’s mayor from 2015 to 2023, beating out a Chevron-backed candidate. “People have all kinds of ways of getting information that isn’t necessarily a traditional newspaper…but there’s a real lack of investigative work, which is required to keep people accountable” said Butt, who runs a blog that some have said has created controversy in the small community.Sara Hylton
Railway tracks passing through Richmond. The Richmond-San Pablo area is one of California’s most polluted.Sara HyltonA residential neighborhood of Richmond in front of the East Bay’s Berkeley Hills.Sara Hylton
Claudia Jimenez, a Richmond City Council representative who is running for mayor, speaks out against the Chevron refinery. Jimenez was part of an ad-hoc committee who helped to win a $550 million settlement from Chevron. “That idea, for me, of making corporations pay their fair share, is something that’s run throughout my career,” she told the Richmondside in 2024.Sara HyltonKatt Ramos, an organizer and activist, runs tours around Richmond showing the impacts of the Chevron refinery.Sara HyltonDoria Robinson, from Richmond, runs Urban Tilth, an organization that trains Richmond residents to grow their own food and feed the community. Like Jimenez, Robinson was part of the ad-hoc committee who helped win a $550 million settlement from Chevron.Sara HyltonDenny Khamphanthong outside of the house he grew up in in North Richmond, a neighborhood next to the Chevron oil refinery. Khamphanthong had severe asthma and was in and out of the hospital, but never asked questions, because conditions like his were prevalent among the kids in the neighborhood. “Running around, trying to be a kid, it’s weird when…you try to do any kind of physical activity, and then you can’t breathe” he said.Sara HyltonBK White, a former Chevron employee, now works as chief of staff for the Richmond mayor’s office. White was a union negotiator and operator at Chevron who was fired by the corporation in 2023—which he alleges was tied to his participation in a strike to fight for better safety and wages.Sara HyltonThe Contra Costa Pulse, a weekly newspaper, is mostly filled with stories reported by young people.Sara HyltonSteve Brunow has lived in the Richmond community of Atchison Village, next to the refinery, for over 20 years. He says there’s a film of dust on his walls.Sara HyltonA view of the Chevron refinery, the largest greenhouse gas emitter in California.Sara Hylton
This post has been syndicated from Mother Jones, where it was published under this address.
