Research

We conduct groundbreaking innovative technical and participatory-action research that documents the ongoing environmental injustice that working-class communities of color face.

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.

In addition to documenting the problems, CBE’s researchers recommend solutions to decision-makers to improve conditions and quality of life in our communities and in our society.

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.

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

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 to avoid supply constraints and price spikes while working towards 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.