CLICK HERE for the press release. Community members engaged in a very important discussion regarding the proposed tar sands expansion of the Phillip’s 66 San Francisco Refinery. Voters will cast an advisory vote for Measure C and vote for a candidate to fill the LAUSD District 5 Board seat. Vote No on Measure C. Vota No el la Medida C. Read the FULL press release HERE. This settlement will reduce air emissions and increase safety at the largest crude-by-rail terminal operating in California! Read the full Press Release HERE. Youth presides over oil industry! A lot of work went into this! Thank you to everyone that worked with us to make this a reality. CBE and allies submitted THIS LETTER to SCAQMD board to urge them to place community and worker safety over Big Oil interests by phasing out MHF NOW! The Los Angeles Clean Energy Coalition and 24 allies DELIVERED THIS LETTER to LADWP urging them to stop a $2.2b plan that would rebuild local gas plants. The State Lands Commission voted unanimously to adopt a new Environmental Justice Policy designed to support more fair and inclusive management of California’s public lands. With the haze of Butte County’s “Camp Fire” looming over the Bay Area, the injustices people face have become ever more evident. During this fire, we are most concerned for the health of children, those with asthma and other respiratory issues, outdoor workers, and our unhoused neighbors. Suggestions to stay indoors and switch out masks every 8 hours are not feasible as an ultimate solution. It took hustle to get masks to share with schools, local organizations, and the unhoused. We still do not have enough for all that need them. We know that masks are not enough. Our adult masks do not properly work for children because of fit and activity. The recommendation has been to keep children indoors with air filtration. This is difficult as air filtration devices are not affordable for low-income people and information on making your own air filtration device is not as accessible. Everyone has been told to stay indoors to avoid this poor air. This is not possible for our unhoused neighbors and for those housed in spaces unable to keep outdoor air from coming in due to poor insulation. Poor air quality impacts are nothing new to East Oakland residents. Exposure to pollution from 880, industrial land uses, the Oakland Airport and the Port of Oakland has resulted in harsh smells, nausea, and flare-ups of asthma. In East Oakland, there is twice the rate of Asthma emergency department visits. People in the hills of Oakland, on average, will live 15 years longer than those in the flats. Smells reach local schools and recreation centers, which do not have air filtration. Breathing in East Oakland is a problem year-round. Many residents in East Oakland are Black and Latino, and race has historically not been considered in planning decisions. Most recently, a mega-crematorium, which will burn 3,000 bodies a year, was approved near a neighborhood that is nearly half Black and Latino. The history of injustice and disinvestment have left many in the East Oakland flats vulnerable to climate change. As summers get warmer, East Oakland flats get even hotter because of the asphalt and gray industrial uses that absorb the heat. Since recreation centers and schools do not have air conditioning, we have less access to local cooling centers. The lack of trees also adds to the impact of even walking in the community on a hot day. Now with the fires, proper air conditioning, and especially those with adequate air filtration, is an example of a resource that we do not have to support people in breathing through this fire. This is at a time when fire season is lasting longer than before. Right now, we demand the City and other regional agencies to act with urgency to bring forth justice year-round. We demand urgency but must work at the pace of the community. Major education is required to inform people of upcoming impacts and emergency resources. We urge Mayor Libby Schaff (Oakland), Mayor Pauline Cutter (San Leandro), Mayor John Bauters (Emeryville), Supervisor Scott Haggerty, Supervisor Nate Miley, Councilmember Larry Reid, Councilmember Desley Brooks, Councilmember Noel Gallo, Councilmember Annie-Campbell Washington, Councilmember Abel Guillen, Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney, Councilmember Dan Kalb, Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, Nikki Fortunato Bas, Loren Taylor, Sheng Thao, Jack Broadbent (Chief Executive Officer – BAAQMD), ( William Gilchrist (Director of Planning and Building), Darin Ranelletti (Policy Director for Housing Security) and Darlene Flynn (Director, Department of Race and Equity) to protect our community and future. Communities for a Better Environment Organizational sign-ons: Block by Block Organizing Network Brower Dellums Institute for Sustainable Policy Studies & Action Causa Justa :: Just Cause (CJJC) East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy East Oakland Building Healthy Communities East Oakland Black Culture Zone East Oakland Collective Oakland Climate Action Coalition Oakland Green Party Original Scraper Bike Team Planting Justice The Electric Smoothie Lab Apothecary UC Berkeley Students of Color Environmental Collective Individual sign-ons: Ernesto Arevalo Eavan Barbieux Amanda Bloom Jasmine Brown Larisa Casillas Vicente Cruz Ke’era Cozine Alegra Dashielle Cheryl Diston Anne-Lise Francois EM Goolsby Anna Maria Gracia A. Jermany Jamay Jermany John Jones III Michael Kaufman Seonghee Lim Betty McKay Les Morones Elva Palacios Tamara Perkins Rigel Robinson (Berkeley City Councilmember-elect) Michael Rubin Angela Scott Ms. Sherry Gabrielle Sloane Law Angie Tam Sylvia Targ Bronte velez Sign onto our letter by emailing earevalo@cbecal.org. Contact Angela 510-302-0430 (angela@cbecal.org | ex 21) or Esther (esther@cbecal.org | ex 24) for immediate mask delivery. Fact sheet HERE.We opposed it, but now
Press Release on 3/7/2019 TownHall in Rodeo to discuss Tar Sands Expansion Proposal
Huntington Park Special Election. March 5, 2019
Settlement Wins Protections at Bakersfield Oil Train Terminal
WE WON! “Court Rejects Oil Industry’s Retaliatory Lawsuit Against L.A. Youth Groups”
Letter by broad coalition to SCAQMD urging an immediate phase out of MHF chemical in Torrance and Wilmington (Los Angeles) Valero refineries
Organizations urge the Department of Water and Power (“DWP”) to cancel plans to build new fossil fuel power plants at the Scattergood, Haynes, and Harbor Generating Station sites.
Press Release on New Environmental Justice Policy adopted by Statelands Commission 12/4/2018
Climate change intensifies injustice in East Oakland
Press Release on Court Decision regarding CBE v. SCAQMD EIR for Tesoro- Comunicado de prensa sobre la decisión de la corte con respecto a CBE v. SCAQMD EIR para Tesoro
COME TO THE HEARING in Sacramento, 9AM Thursday, Sept. 27 when the state will consider whether to adopt their staff’s proposed “Blueprint” to implement AB617 and and set communities receiving emissions reduction plans the first year
#AB617 is in place. Only 10 communities in the state are proposed to get any plan the first year, and only 7 would get an emission reduction plan (v. only air monitoring plans). This is not enough!