Please read this ‘Community Update’ sent from Chevron Richmond this morning, October 10, 2012.

As we repair and renew our Richmond Refinery, we are going to step up our communications to keep you informed about important issues, updates and progress.

The Richmond City Council recently passed two resolutions concerning our refinery. One urged Chevron to invest in new research and office space in the Marina Bay shoreline neighborhood. The other resolution directed city staff to encourage Chevron to hire Richmond residents, invest in renewable energy technology and install air-monitors in the city.

We appreciate the City’s expressed desire to promote investment in the community. In fact, Chevron has played a vital role in the Richmond economy more than 110 years, and we continue to provide significant support for new energy technologies and investments in both Richmond and West County.

We are currently focused on repairing the refinery and are working with the City of Richmond to continue permitting these needed repairs. Further, as part of our refinery renewal project, we are prepared to make significant investments to replace older equipment with newer, cleaner technologies to reduce air emissions, conserve energy and improve refinery operations while putting approximately 1,000 people to work.

Chevron is also advancing energy efficiency and solar power in Richmond. Local projects completed by Chevron Energy Solutions include solar power systems at the Richmond Auditorium, City Hall and Main Library, and installing a “cool roof” at the Richmond Main Library that reflects solar heat and reduces air conditioning costs. We are also a major supporter of Solar Richmond, the nation’s first non-profit to generate green collar jobs in the solar industry.

In addition, we contributed more than $10 million over the past three years to support education, at-risk youth and job creation programs in Richmond and West Contra Costa County. We believe investments like these make Richmond a stronger community and Chevron a more successful business.

We want to be able to continue to make these kinds of investments and economic contributions to the City of Richmond by moving forward quickly with repairs to the refinery, as well as our larger modernization project. We are continuing to work diligently with local, state and federal officials to understand the causes of the Aug. 6 fire so we can begin repairing the refinery and returning to full production and the broad economic benefits that the refinery provides to the local economy.

For more information about our efforts in Richmond, please visit www.chevronrichmond.com.

The text of the two resolutions will be posted at a later date on the City of Richmond website at http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/Archive.aspx?AMID=31.

For more information, please call our 24-Hour Community Hotline at 510-242-2000 or email us at rrweb@chevron.com.