Richmond-Chevron Refinery
The refinery was opened in 1902, three years before the town of Richmond was incorporated. What was previously an agricultural community of about 200 grew into a company town supporting several thousand in just a few years. It was critical to the efforts of both world wars providing transportation fuel and crucial ingredients to produce TNT. It is hard to imagine Richmond developing as it did when it did without the refinery.
Prosperity is rarely the entire story with an oil refinery. A fire in 2012 forced local residents to shelter in place for over 5 hours as flames burst from the two of the refinery’s towers. Following the incident 15,000 residents of Richmond sought medical care for respiratory issues.
Chevron says it is currently implementing an Air Quality Monitoring program for the neighboring communities effected the most by the refinery’s greenhouse gas emissions. Local environmental organizations often gather to protest that Chevron needs to be doing more faster, like transitioning to cleaner refining techniques.