{"id":186741,"date":"2021-06-01T10:45:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T10:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=536666"},"modified":"2021-06-01T10:45:00","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T10:45:00","slug":"from-pollution-to-policing-this-asian-american-group-is-expanding-environmental-justice-in-the-bay-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/06\/01\/from-pollution-to-policing-this-asian-american-group-is-expanding-environmental-justice-in-the-bay-area\/","title":{"rendered":"From pollution to policing, this Asian-American group is expanding environmental justice in the Bay Area"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Sandy Saeteurn grew up in Richmond, California, where Chevron\u2019s massive 3,000-acre oil refinery reigns supreme. She\u2019s no stranger to the refinery\u2019s chemical flares, and she spent many of her childhood days home sick. She\u2019s not the only one who has learned to link the refinery and the presence of illness in her community: A 2008 study<\/a> (co-authored by Grist board member Rachel Morello-Frosch) found that almost half of all homes in the area had indoor levels of refinery-related particulate matter pollution that exceeded the state\u2019s air quality standards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Every day for nearly 120 years \u2014 longer than the city has existed \u2014 the refinery has processed thousands of barrels of oil. Its flares regularly paint the sky burnt orange before thick grey clouds of smoke cover the city. Chevron\u2019s influence stretches beyond its pollution and the 3,500 refinery jobs it provides as the city\u2019s largest employer \u2014 it also showers money on local elections<\/a> and even runs a local newspaper, the Richmond Standard, which has been known to cast a positive light on the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ever since Black residents first arrived in large numbers in the 1940s, people of color have been relegated into low-quality housing surrounding the city\u2019s large industrial zones. Today the city, which is 82 percent non-white and home to large groups of migrants from Latin America and Southeast Asia, has worse air pollution than 94 percent of the country, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency, which has cited the refinery for environmental violations roughly 150 times since 2016<\/a>. The city\u2019s childhood asthma rate is more than double the national average and, in the immediate aftermath of an explosion at the refinery in 2012, more than 15,000 people were forced to seek medical treatment for respiratory distress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chevron funds around one-third of Richmond\u2019s annual budget through taxes and municipal services the company provides, which includes education and workforce development programs. When the company wanted to modernize its facility in 2008, it offered the city $11 million for the Richmond Police Department to \u201cincrease the number of police officers on the street,\u201d according to a document<\/a> outlining Chevron\u2019s community benefits agreements with the city. The modernization project was eventually blocked after community groups sued the city for failing to do a proper environmental impact analysis, but a 2015 agreement between Richmond and Chevron ultimately set aside $2 million for Richmond police<\/a>. Over the past decade, Richmond police have arrested hundreds<\/a> for protesting the plant\u2019s emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a child, Saeteurn and her family didn\u2019t think to connect the Chevron plant and their disposition to illness. \u201cGrowing up there was a lot of explosion drills, and we never understood what they meant,\u201d Saeteurn told Grist. \u201cIn elementary school, Chevron would come and have certain programs for kids, giving us money for books and school supplies. I left elementary school thinking \u2018oh wow, Chevron’s a great company,\u2019 when in reality they were slowly killing us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saeteurn\u2019s lighthearted view of Chevron didn\u2019t last long. By age 14, she was a dedicated organizer and member of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, or APEN, which is based in both Richmond and nearby Oakland. She\u2019s used her struggles against environmental injustices to fuel her work, helping to organize influential campaigns such as the first-ever county-wide multilingual warning system, which now warns Richmond residents of looming chemical flares in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Lao. <\/p>\n\n\n\n