Can a ballot initiative transform Richmond from a refinery town?

Sacramento Democrats may have abandoned plans to have the state’s biggest fossil fuel producers pay for their environmental and health impacts, but voters in the bayside city of Richmond, California, will still have the chance to do so this November.

An initiative placed on the Richmond ballot last month would tax the Chevron refinery, one of the largest in the state, $1 for each barrel of oil processed within city limits. While other local governments have attempted to make polluting industries pay more for the right to operate in their communities, boosters of the Richmond proposal say it offers a chance to transform a city defined by industry into something new.

“The ballot measure, in many ways, represents the start of a new chapter by bringing more resources into community control,” said Kerry Guerin, an attorney with Communities for a Better Environment, an environmental justice group.

Her organization, along with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, spent “years organizing” community support for the per-barrel charge, which as a general tax requires a majority vote in a general election. The city attorney drafted it as an initiative, and the Richmond City Council voted last month to put it before voters.



https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/15/richmond-california-ballot-initiative-refinery-00168464