Petition: Don’t let Trump and Big Oil dredge the San Francisco Bay

Sign the petition! This dredging project is the latest attack on California by the Trump administration and Big Oil and is part and parcel of previous attempts to expand offshore oil drilling and open public lands to oil and gas leasing.  Join us in calling on the federal representatives of this region to do everything in their power to stand with their constituents and oppose this misguided project.

Save the Bay from the Army Corps of Engineers Dredging

Friday- 7/19 from 10-12pm at the San Francisco Federal Building, 90 7th St, San Francisco, CA 94103 FB EVENT HERE.

The Army Corps of Engineers plans to dredge a deeper channel through San Francisco Bay to enable oil tankers to move greater amounts of crude to and from Bay Area refineries.

Several environmental groups have filed a joint protest letter about the “San Francisco Bay to Stockton Navigation Improvement Project.” But the one and only public presentation on the plan was so poorly publicized by the Army Corps that no one in the grassroots heard about it in time to provide comment.

Now we have an opportunity to speak our minds.

This Friday, the Army Corps is holding a hearing on its Dredge Material Management Plan. This is probably intended to focus exclusively on “beneficial reuse” of dredging material, but this is an opportunity for community to speak up against the thirteen-mile dredging project whose sole purpose is to enable more oil trafficking on the taxpayers’ dime. The project would provide four refineries with nearly a $15 million annual subsidy, multiply the risk of oil spills, pump up the production of petroleum products, and increase greenhouse gas emissions.

For more background, see an excellent KQED piece and Sierra Club blog post: https://www.sierraclub.org/san-francisco-bay/blog/2019/06/trump-administration-wants-dredge-sf-bay-make-room-for-more-oil

CBE Celebrates Equitable Solar Access for Affordable Housing Tenants in CA

Full Press Release HERE. Learn more at the July 16th webinar: http://bit.ly/2MXzxVr 

Southeast LA and East Oakland have had a long history of environmental racism that has both plagued low-income communities of color with disproportionate pollution burden and prevented them from accessing solutions like renewable energy infrastructure. Because of this, the region also has a long history of community organizing for sustainable solutions, and the SOMAH program is a testament to the power of these efforts. 

The SOMAH program is monumental because it contributes to a transition from fossil fuel energy dependence and offers economic benefits, including job training and lower electricity bills, to those who have been on the frontlines of the struggle for sustainable energy solutions. 

Trump Administration to Dredge San Francisco Bay to Make Room for More Oil

Link to Press Release HERE. Link to comment letter HERE. Link to expert report by Greg, CBE Senior Scientist, HERE.

CBE, together with several allied environmental groups, filed comments Monday challenging a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) from the Trump Administration’s Army Corps of Engineers seeking to dredge the San Francisco Bay to let oil tankers in and out of the Bay with fuller loads. The comments, backed up with a technical report by CBE scientist Greg Karras, assert that the Trump Administration failed to consider significant impacts of the Dredging Project in the DEIS, including how it will allow more oil products into and out of the Bay’s refineries, causing more greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution in the communities of color that live near the refineries

Mayor Eric Garcetti Releases L.A.’s Green New Deal

Full CBE Press Release here.

“As the City begins to implement this plan, we urge Mayor Garcetti and the City Council to prioritize environmental justice issues such as: putting in place a 2,500-foot health and safety buffer for new and existing oil drilling operations; mandating Valero refinery in Wilmington that uses extremely dangerous and deadly modified hydrofluoric acid in its refining process to switch to safer alternatives; and continuing to work with community-based organizations for aggressively reducing cumulative impacts of pollution in Clean Up-Green Up Communities such as Wilmington.”

VISIÓN Advocates for a Future Free of Oil & Gas Extraction in Our Communities

Full Press Release HERE.

“California needs to show leadership in creating good policies that protect the health of communities near fossil fuel operations, and this health and safety buffer zone proposal is a real solution which also demonstrates that Sacramento cares about our communities,” said Ashley Hernandez a Youth Organizer with Communities for a Better Environment who lives across the street from Warren E&P, one of the largest drilling sites in Wilmington, in Los Angeles County.