Preserve our Coastal Environment and expand our Chevron Partnership

Living at the beach is both a privilege and a responsibility. That responsibility includes maintaining our beaches, preserving the cleanliness of our oceans, and respecting the creatures who occasionally venture up onto our shores. Local government plays a big role in achieving these goals, from managing beach clean-up processes to maintaining storm drains to working with marine rescue groups.

Manhattan Beach is also in the unique place of being located beside the Chevron refinery. Our Chevron refinery was founded in 1911 and is one of five refineries owned by Chevron. Chevron is in the process of modernizing some of its refineries. For example, at its Richmond, CA refinery, it is replacing older equipment with newer technologies that are inherently safer and will help meet the nation’s toughest air quality standards. Modernization installs new air pollution control equipment and energy efficiency upgrades to protect air quality and reduce pollution. As part of this modernization, the Richmond Refinery agreed to invest $90 million through an Environmental and Community Investment Agreement to fund programs such as college scholarships, job training and grants for non-profits in Richmond. Chevron will also invest $30 million over 10 years in the City of Richmond to fight climate change and create local green jobs. While we do appreciate the support the El Segundo refinery provides to Manhattan Beach and especially MBUSD, it’s also possible that the “squeaky wheel is getting the grease” (well, oil) here and our local government could encourage Chevron to pursue additional environmental partnerships with OUR community.