Tell Chevron: Oil and Democracy Don't Mix!
- by: Sierra Club
- recipient: Chevron Corp. Board of Directors
In 2012, a major fire at the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, CA endangered workers and sent 15,000 residents to the hospital. The following year, in response, the Richmond City Council voted to sue Chevron for "a continuation of years of neglect, lax oversight and corporate indifference to necessary safety inspection and repairs."
Instead of working to address the public health and environmental concerns of workers and the local community, Chevron dumped more than $3 million in the 2014 election to pack the City Council and mayor's office with hand-picked, pro-industry candidates.
Despite being outspent 20-1, Richmond residents banded together and defeated all of Chevron's candidates, becoming one of the few examples in the 2014 election of the people beating corporate-backed interests.
However, Chevron is still trying to corrupt the political process in their favor around California and the country, spending millions of dollars to elect their hand-picked politicians and roll-back common-sense regulations that protect our health, air, water and climate. Time and time again, Chevron has made it clear that they will put their profits over the best interests of our communities and our environment.
It's time to fight back against corporate influence in our democracy. A group of Chevron shareholders have submitted a resolution calling on Chevron to stop corrupting our democracy and keep their money out of politics. Urge Chevron to keep its oil money out of our elections!
Dear Chevron Corp. Board of Directors,
In 2014, Chevron flooded a local city council and mayoral election in Richmond, CA with more than $3 million in oil money to get pro-industry candidates elected. This was just a fraction of the money Chevron spent on influencing elections and the political process across the country. This is not an appropriate way for an American company to deal with the legitimate concerns coming from local communities that are living with the harmful effects of oil industry pollution.
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We, the people, are deeply concerned about the inordinate influence that corporate money has in politics, and urge Chevron to support the shareholder resolution submitted by the Green Century Fund, and commit to stop corrupting our democracy and stop spending money to influence our elections.
