RICHMOND, Calif. (KRON) -- In the East Bay, dozens of people spent their afternoon outside the gates of the Chevron Richmond Refinery protesting. They say the big oil company has caused possibly irreversible environmental damage.
This protest is an annual global event. This is the 9th Anti-Chevron Day protest.
Protestors do it every year right before Chevron's annual stockholder meeting to draw attention to the companies impact on the environment. That meeting happens on the last Wednesday of May.
Dozens of people gathered outside the gates of the refinery to protest what they believe are crimes committed by the oil company.
"We need a managed decline and the end of the use of fossil fuels," said Paul Paz y Miño who is the associate director with Amazon Watch -- a non-profit created to protect the rainforest. "Stand up to call out pollution, human rights violations and demand accountability from Chevron's management CEO and board of directors."
Protestors created this temporary piece of art that says "Stand up to Chevron and big oil."
Paz y Miño says chevron is causing possibly irreversible damage.
"Chevron holds the distinction as the number one contributor to global greenhouse emissions of all investor owned oil companies in history," Paz y Miño said. "In Ecuador, it's a clean up of the toxic waste that Chevron admitted to dumping. We're talking about 16 billion gallons of toxic waste."
He says the company is also hurting those in it's own Richmond community, and he says many citizens showed up to ask for change.
"Chevron has been in Richmond for over 100 years," Paz y Miño said. "It's workers are striking now because they want better safety standards at the refinery. Chevron has the opportunity to respond and negotiate with communities but it often vilifies them and today they set up a second fence."
Yet beyond that fence, Chevron confirmed with a tweet that a fire broke out at an unoccupied warehouse.
Paz y Miño worries that more things like that could happen with so many seasoned workers recently striking. He says they keep on protesting year after year in hopes that Chevron will one day commit to being a greener and more sustainable company.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/62GsaI0
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