Despite a declining demand for oil, the greedy fossil fuel industry is trying to push through as many new dirty projects as possible, including right here in the Bay Area.
Contra Costa County recently fast-tracked an oil drilling project at a long-shuttered oil field. The site is in Brentwood, next to Sand Creek, which flows into the Delta and San Francisco Bay. The site is also only about 1,000 feet from homes and half a mile from an elementary school.
Today millions of people are taking to the streets across the country with the energizing spirit of Juneteenth, Freedom Day, the day that commemorates the end of slavery. These millions are protesting injustice and bearing witness to the racial oppression that has shattered Black lives for centuries in the United States. And they're celebrating because Black lives matter!
Shock. Despair. Action. People are lining the streets, filled with grief and rage, and justifiably lashing out against the institutional and systemic injustice burdening people of color – most especially Black lives.
The senseless killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Ahmaud Arbery are just the latest horrific examples of racial hatred in the United States, and they have shaken our country to its core during an already tragic pandemic crisis.
Most people don’t consider the Bay Area to be Coal Country, but over the last few years Big Coal has been using San Francisco Bay to stage and process millions of tons of dirty coal at the Port of Richmond. Big Coal has its greedy eyes on the Port of Oakland and the Vallejo shoreline, too.
With news of pending plans to reopen businesses around the state, I’ve started daydreaming about the little things I’m looking forward to once the pandemic is over. While dining out and happy hours with friends top my wish list, I’m also looking forward to getting out on the Bay again. There’s nothing like the feeling of cool, salty spray on my face, and the wind whipping around us as we zoom across the water.
Schools are shuttered through the summer, and summer camps will likely be closed, too. Quarantine fatigue has set in around my house. While homeschooling comes with lots of challenges, there’s been at least one unexpected personal delight: my kids have become more engaged in my work than ever and a lot more interested in the Bay.
Richmond’s Point Molate has been called "the crown jewel” of the East Bay shoreline. It sits under the shadow of one of the region’s biggest polluters, the Chevron oil refinery—and now, Point Molate is the target of a new development plan that would be disastrous both for the Bay and Richmond residents.
