Research

We conduct groundbreaking innovative technical and participatory-action research that documents the ongoing environmental injustice that working-class communities of color face, and more importantly, we provide clean energy solutions.

In collaboration with our community members and academic partners, CBE’s research team examines the environmental and health harms that result from unaddressed injustices, such as:

• The heavy concentration of pollution and polluters in our communities;
• Our society’s continuing reliance on fossil fuels;
• Flaws in our regulatory system that often fails to protect vulnerable communities.
• The alternatives and means to replace a dirty energy economy.

Wilmington in the harbor area of Los Angeles is ground-zero on the West Coast to fossil fuel infrastructure, including five oil refineries, intensive oil drilling right next to houses, extreme levels of transportation pollution, the heavy port polluters (Port of LA and Port of Long Beach), and more.

CBE has a deep history winning model emissions controls for oil refineries, a model ordinance for oil extraction phaseout not only in Wilmington but connecting these into statewide models.

State Greenhouse Gas Scoping Plan and California Energy Commission Proceedings: CBE Wilmington led the statewide battle for long-term planning of the switch from Oil Refining production of gasoline and diesel, to their gradual phaseout through transportation electrification.

CBE Wilmington is also leading the research in the case study of the Phillips 66 refinery closure, including elements needed through the City and County of LA for community and worker protections, decommissioning, remediation redevelopment, and logistical means for short term fuel supplies which can avoid supply constraints and price spikes while working towards clean energy goals and a Just Transition.

Richmond research primarily focuses on holding Chevron – the city’s largest stationary polluter – accountable for its harm to frontline communities and the environment.

In partnership with local environmental justice organizations and City Councilmembers, we advocate for a Just Transition in Richmond that decreases the city’s dependence on fossil fuels, prepares the city for refinery closure, and promotes a community-led vision of a future that centers environmental and social wellbeing.

Richmond research aims to make our research as accessible as possible, encompassing a range of issues including statewide climate policies, the local history of radical Black activism, soil contamination, soil remediation strategies, refinery flaring, wastewater management, metal shredding, and other critical climate and environmental justice issues.