RICHMOND GLOBE
August 1 - 7, 2007

Government Agencies Propose
Diverting Restoration Funds

By Clifford L. Williams

Three governmental agencies have quietly formulated a plan to divert millions of dollars from Richmond to Solano County that were originally intended to restore environmental resources damaged by Chevron refineries.

During a meeting earlier this month with the East Bay Regional Park District and the U.S. Department of the Interior, Richmond city officials learned that over two-thirds of the proceeds from a settlement for damage to Richmond’s Castro Cove may end up going north.

Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin strongly opposes the idea of diverting the funds from Richmond to Solano County. “It is blatantly unfair that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the California Department of Fish and Game would propose that the bulk of mitigation funds for damage to Castro Cove by Chevron would go for a restoration project in Solano County, rather than for restoration in Richmond where the damage occurred,” McLaughlin said. “The damage occurred in Richmond. It is Richmond that should be the sole beneficiary of this settlement.

Richmond City Councilman Tom Butt also voiced a strong opinion that the funds be kept in Richmond. “I strongly believe that this money must be kept in Richmond,” said Butt. “Out of the three trustees who are dealing with the resources that come from the settlement, two are from a federal agency and one from the state. To me this is totally backward because one of the trustees clearly represents a conflict of interest.”

“The other two trustees have been working on a project in Solano County and were looking for a way to fund it, and now it appears they want to use monies that belong to Richmond.”

“The agencies have claimed that they have had discussions with the City Manager and the Mayor’s Office regarding the proposed diversion of funds. While this may be true, Richmond city officials have steadfastly repeated that they do not want any of Richmond’s money to go anywhere other than Richmond.”

“There has been no public hearing or comment on the issue and nothing has been scheduled to allow for public debate,” Butt added. McLaughlin has asked Assemblywoman’s Loni Hancock’s office to meet with California Department of Fish and Game officials for clarity on the issue.”

Mayor McLaughlin has written a letter to Congressman George Miller, Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, Senator Perata and Assemblywoman Hancock, urging them to investigate and reverse the misuse of funds that would adversely affect Richmond residents. “We first became aware of this action in late 2006 when a representative of NOAA met with former Mayor Irma Anderson and Richmond City Manager Bill Lindsay to brief them on the action and the process,” writes McLaughlin. “Following that meeting, Richmond City Council member Tom Butt was told by Natalie Cosentino-Manning of NOAA to expect a public meeting in Richmond in January, 2007, where use of the funds in Richmond could be explored. That public meeting never occurred.”

“Representatives from Richmond and the East Bay Regional Park District indicated to NOAA that they felt strongly that any funds should be used for projects in Richmond”.

“On July 13, Daniel Welsh, Chief, Division of Environmental Contaminants, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Charles C. McKinley, Assistant Field Solicitor, U.S. Department of the Interior, appeared at the City of Richmond/East Bay Regional Park District Liaison Committee meeting to inform the group that the recommendation of the trustees was to reserve $750,000 for restoration of 30 acres of tidal marsh in the 210-acre Breuner marsh project in Richmond and to reserve $1,900,000 for 173 acres of the 1,500-acre Cullinan ranch wetland restoration in Solano County.”

McLaughlin further stated that “There are decades of abuse of the Richmond shoreline by industry, and there are significant environmental justice issues related to this abuse. It is inconceivable that funds resulting from this abuse should be funneled into another County instead of being used in Richmond.”