Phasing Out Oil Refining in California: Implications for Health and Workers

Commissioner Siva Gunda is serving his first term on the California Energy Commission. He was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom in February 2021. Before joining the CEC, he served in a variety of capacities at the Energy Efficiency Institute at the University of California, Davis, including as the director of research.

Julia May is a Senior Scientist at Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), providing engineering analysis and regulatory policy development on oil refineries and other industrial pollution sources. She is deeply involved in planning the transition away from dependence on oil refineries toward clean energy replacements to protect communities and the planet from climate and health destruction. For the last 35 years, she has provided technical support for CBE and other Environmental Justice organizations, demystifying refinery operations, their health-harming pollution, and seeking alternatives. She helped develop best-in-nation oil refinery regulations to prevent accidents and flaring and to minimize continuous emissions from refinery storage tanks, ships, boilers, heaters, and more.

Brian White is a U.S. Navy veteran and currently serves as the Policy Director in the office of Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez. Prior to his current position, Mr. White was a 29-year member of United Steelworkers and Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers unions, while working at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond, CA. His work at the refinery included operating some of the most complex and difficult units in the refinery. Mr. White also led a Union Safety program at the refinery for three years and trained plant operators on process procedures and regulatory requirements.

Alicia Rivera is an organizer for Communities for a Better Environment in Wilmington and has been a lead Oil Refinery Organizer in California for over 20 years. Her initiation to refinery disasters was the former Texaco, now Marathon refinery that spectacularly exploded in the late 1990s, physically damaging homes and people’s health, aggravating respiratory illnesses and ability to breathe. Since then, Alicia witnessed countless explosions, flaring, and neighbors’ health harms, and was instrumental in winning regulations and policies at the regional Air District and the State to clean up refineries. She is actively involved in work toward refinery phaseout.