Santa Clara County Sustainability Commission unanimously recommends divestment from Chevron

San Jose, CA – On May 22, the Sustainability Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the county divest from Chevron and all fossil fuels. Community organizers joined the commission meeting to give public comments, exposing Chevron’s environmental crimes and urging the county to divest.

Santa Clara County currently has $15 million in Chevron bonds that will be maturing this August. A coalition of local organizations launched the divestment campaign earlier this month with a petition that has gathered over a hundred signatures and over a dozen organizational endorsements.

“Chevron spilled millions of gallons of crude oil and polluted wastewater in the Amazon rainforest, causing cancer, miscarriages and skin conditions in indigenous people and poor farmers,” Drusie Kazanova of San Jose Against War stated during the public comment section of the meeting.

Kazanova continued, “Here at home in the Bay Area, in 2021, Chevron’s Richmond refinery spilled 600 gallons of oil into the Bay, creating conditions where people had to stay inside because the oil spill made it unsafe to breathe. This is in addition to many refinery fires over the past several decades which have created unsafe air conditions for Richmond residents, and in particular for the children of Richmond.”

Nassim Nouri of the Santa Clara County Green Party emphasized the importance of taking action in light of right-wing attacks on environmental protections, saying, “Just today, we saw that the U.S. House of Representatives rolled back hard-fought environmental regulations. This assault on our communities and the environment is the direct result of this industry’s undue influence in shaping our policies.”

Laksh Basin of Silicon Valley Democratic Socialists of America spoke about Chevron’s involvement in war, stating, “This investment by the county is especially concerning because Chevron and these other fossil fuel companies are fueling the war industry and destruction beyond the Bay, across the world.”

Notably, Chevron has direct involvement in Israel’s genocide against Palestine, providing fuel to Israeli military bases and Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank. Chevron also provides hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from royalties to Israel’s government every year through its extraction projects co-ownership of Tamar and Leviathan, Israel’s largest active gas fields.

After hearing public comments and after some debate between commissioners, the Sustainability Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the county divest from Chevron and all fossil fuels.

This vote is an important initial victory for the campaign and represents the first stage for divestment in the county system. Next, the commission’s recommendation will go to the county’s Housing, Land Use, Environment, and Transportation Committee, before finally heading to the board of supervisors. Organizers plan on mobilizing the community to show up and give public comment at these future meetings as well.

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