San Francisco, CA -- Today a broad coalition of more than thirty Bay Area organizations, representing communities from across the state and around the world, announced plans for a mass festival, march, and protest at Chevron's Richmond Refinery on Saturday, August 15. They formed the Mobilization for Climate Justice-West to demand that Chevron "cap the crude" at its Richmond refinery as they build grassroots political pressure and "street heat" leading up to the international climate change talks in Copenhagen in December.

Chevron wants to process heavier crude oil at its Richmond refinery. Refining heavier and dirtier crude will result in more air pollution, greater Green House Gas (GHGs) emissions, and disease.

"Heavy crude production contributes 2 to 3 times more climate pollution than conventional oil," said Greg Karras, Senior Scientist for Communities for a Better Environment. "If Chevron succeeds in retooling to burn dirtier crude, the project would add an additional million tons per year of Green House Gases (GHGs)—adding significantly to the CO2 burden in California and in Richmond. Chevron already emits over 80% of Richmond's GHG."

"Chevron has the opportunity to do the right thing," said Mayor of Richmond, Gayle McLaughlin. "They just need to agree to capping the crude at the level they currently refine. We want them to put Richmond's residents to work modernizing and replacing the 80 year old boilers, which sadly they chose to remove from the project several months ago. We want them to build a cleaner and safer refinery. We want the union jobs to continue to build a refinery that is cleaner and safer for our community. Our community has been put at risk for too long."

"The North Richmond community is on the frontline of Chevron's chemical assault. We have experienced a lifetime of chemical exposure, asthma, cancer and death. These are human rights violations. West County Toxics Coalition will fight until there is no net increase in emission from the Chevron Hydrogen Expansion Project," said Henry Clarke, the Executive Director of the West County Toxics Coalition.

"It is not reasonable to ask people who live near the refinery and already face a legacy of toxic racism, disparate health risk, and pollution-related blight to accept this added risk," said Torm Nompraseurt, Senior Organizer, Asian Pacific Environmental Network. "We demand that Chevron commit to implement an enforceable limit to assure that the oil refined will not be heavier or dirtier."

In the U.S., petroleum accounts for more than 40 % of total CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion (the burning of fuels, including coal, oil, and natural gas to produce energy and to power vehicles) -- more than any other fuel. The Mobilization for Climate Justice-West believes that to solve our climate crisis, we must solve our oil crisis and that Chevron can begin right here, right now, by agreeing to cap the crude in Richmond.

"Chevron is one of the wealthiest entities on the planet--only 36 countries had GDP's larger than Chevron 2008 revenues—it can afford to do the right thing," said Antonia Juhasz, Director of the Chevron Program at Global Exchange. "Instead Chevron blocks efforts to pay its fair share in local taxes in Richmond and in state taxes. By banding together as Chevron-effected communities and allies, we are creating a mass citizens movement that will achieve meaningful policy change to reduce the most devastating impacts of the oil industry and require that, for as long as we must rely on oil as a resource, its operations will be as clean, safe, humane, and equitable as humanly possible."

"People, not corporations, should drive the critical climate talks in Copenhagen," said Ananda Lee Tan, a member of the Mobilization for Climate Justice spokes council and the U.S. Campaign Coordinator for the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. "To date, at the Untied Nation's climate talks, corporate lobbyists have outnumbered representatives of governments and civil society groups by a ratio of as high as 4 to 1. We want Chevron and all corporate lobbyists banned from, and frontline community voices represented at these talks. The MCJ seeks to empower community-based activist groups and networks to lead a global climate justice movement in confronting the root causes of climate change at home, while defining community priorities and self-determination pathways for a new energy economy."

The protest at the Chevron Refinery on Saturday will begin at 11:30 AM with a festival and rally at the Richmond BART Station at 16th Street and MacDonald Avenue. It will include a march to the Chevron oil refinery and a non-violent civil disobedience action that could result in arrests.

The Mobilization for Climate Justice-West includes 33 diverse groups: Art in Action, Asian-Pacific Environmental Network, Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace and Justice, Bay Localize, Burmese American Democratic Association, Communities for a Better Environment, Contra Costa Greens, Direct Action to Stop the War, Earth First!, Environmental Justice & Climate Change Initiative, Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity (FACES), Forest Ethics, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Global Exchange, Global Justice Ecology Project, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, Greenpeace, Headrush, International Forum on Globalization, International Rivers, Justice in Nigeria Now!, Movement Generation, Pacific Environment, Poor Magazine, Rainforest Action Network, Richmond Mayor's Task Force on Environmental Justice and Health, Richmond Progressive Alliance, Ruckus Society, Rising Tide North America, Solidarity, West County Toxics Coalition, Youth In Focus, 350.org

For more information, see west.actforclimatejustice.org