Polluters Paid the Fines. Now $65 Million Is Headed to Richmond-Area Neighborhoods

Fines paid by Chevron's Richmond refinery and other polluters are being turned into grants for the neighborhoods that breathe their emissions. The Bay Area Air District announced $65 million in awards on Friday, Oct. 9, at the RYSE Center in Richmond.

Where the money goes

The grants come from Bay REPAIR, short for Reinvesting Penalties for Air Improvement and Resilience, a program built on a policy the Air District adopted in May 2024. The district says these are the first awards of their kind in California. The money covers Richmond, Contra Costa County, Benicia and surrounding areas including North Richmond, Pinole, El Sobrante, San Pablo, the Iron Triangle and Point Richmond.

About $38.7 million is set aside for Richmond and nearby communities, Richmondside reported. Eleven Richmond organizations, among them GRID Alternatives, Groundwork Richmond, LifeLong Medical Care, Rich City Rides, Richmond Trees, RYSE and The Watershed Project, will share roughly $10.6 million in short-term catalyst grants routed through the city. Their projects include planting 600 trees, transit passes for 1,500 residents, energy upgrades for 100 income-qualified homes, asthma prevention and youth job programs.

Nearly $13 million more goes to other Contra Costa projects, including a community resilience center in North Richmond and home air quality upgrades, according to Richmondside. Other grants fund park work in San Pablo, help for workers moving out of refinery jobs and clean energy upgrades for 189 homes in Pinole.

Filling a federal gap

Hoodline, citing the Mercury News, reported that some of the money will help finish projects that Urban Tilth and Contra Costa County had planned to pay for with a $19 million federal grant that the Trump administration canceled.

"We collect penalties, and we're putting those back into the communities where the penalties occurred," Air District head Philip Fine said, according to Richmondside. Contra Costa Supervisor John Gioia, who sits on the district board, said communities that have been "on the front lines of being harmed by industrial pollution" are now benefiting from those penalties.

This money is separate from the $550 million Chevron agreed last year to pay Richmond over a decade. Hoodline reported that funds should go out by spring 2027, and the Air District is already developing a future grant program for the Martinez area.