Communities for a Better Environment (CBE)

Bill Gallegos. Bill Gallegos is the Executive Director of Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), one of the leading environmental justice organizations in the United States. During its 28 years of organizing in California. CBE has achieved groundbreaking environmental policies that have led to cleaner air and water in for low income communities of color living near power plants, oil refineries and… See full bio.

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Story: Communities for a Better Environment won a case against Chevron, but what was the litigation about? Chevron Corporation wanted to switch to refining dirtier, heavier oil in its Richmond, CA refinery, which will most likely emit significantly more toxic pollution, pollution that would include chemicals linked to cancer and respiratory ailments. Environmental justice groups such as Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), and West County Toxics Coalition (WCTC), represented by Earthjustice, sued the City of Richmond over its approval of the refinery expansion in 2008, on the basis that the inadequacies in the Environmental Impact Report rendered approval illegal under the California Environmental Quality Act. In April 2010, the California State Court of Appeals has upheld the majority of findings in a lower court decision that the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the expansion of the Chevron Corporation's refinery in Richmond California violated state environmental law. This is an unprecedented victory for the community. "This is a good decision," said Socorro Garcia, a ten-year Richmond resident and neighbor of the refinery. "There are people like me living very close to the refinery. The refinery has damaged our health and our community. Our health is our future." (Learn more about the Chevron case at: http://www.cbecal.org/pdf/Appeals%20Court%20Decision%20April%2026.2010.pdf)

Evidence of Impact Summary:

CBE stopped the expansion of gas fired power plants and refineries. In 2008, they were able to stop Chevron from expanding its refinery's capacity to process heavier and dirtier crude oil in Richmond, CA. They participated in the AB32 legislation. They also made it a requirement for local governments and major developers in California to address climate change impacts in their reports
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Organization Strengths Summary:

Communities for a Better Environment is particularly focused on environmental justice and has been especially successful in representing low-income communities of color in the California climate debate. This organizations unique combination of skills (from grassroots mobilizing, to legal capacity, to science background) has made it so successful.
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Areas for Improvement Summary:

Communities for a Better Environment faces staffing and resource shortages which are a hindrance to their work. Some experts would like to see CBE focus more on climate policy work, expand into additional communities, and align their mission more with climate change mitigation goals.
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Bill Gallegos is the Executive Director of Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), one of the leading environmental justice organizations in the United States. During its 28 years of organizing in California. CBE has achieved groundbreaking environmental policies that have led to cleaner air and water in for low income communities of color living near power plants, oil refineries and other large polluters. CBE recently won the most stringent regulations in the US on the highly-toxic oil refinery practice of "flaring" their excess gases. Several years ago, CBE helped win a major victory for the residents of Santa Fe Springs when it prevented televangelist Pat Robertson from re-opening a high polluting oil refinery in that small Southeast Los Angeles city. Bill has nearly thirty years of experience as a social justice activist and leader. He is currently a member of the California Environmental Justice Advisory Committee that is working to help implement California's new greenhouse gas legislation; and is in the leadership of GREENLA, a coalition of more than sixty environmental and environmental justice organizations working to make Los Angeles "the greenest big city in the United States." Bill also represents CBE in the Southwest Network for Economic and Environmental Justice, and is helping that network to lead a campaign calling on the federal Department of Health and Human Services to recognize environmental pollution as a major cause of health problems in minority communities.

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