Chevron blocks Bay Trail at Point Molate

Do people block completion of a trail that will facilitate safe walking and biking? Do people thwart a route for children to walk to shoreline parks? Yes, People Do or to be precise, Chevron does.

The San Francisco Bay Trail is a planned 500-mile hiking and biking corridor encircling San Francisco and San Pablo Bays for both recreation and non-motorized transportation. To date 288 miles of this "Ring Around the Bay" have been completed, running through 47 cities in nine counties.

Richmond is "Bay Trail City" with 24.5 miles completed far more than any other city. Its major remaining challenge is to complete the seven-mile scenic route connecting Point Richmond with Point Molate and around Point San Pablo to the Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor. (This spur will not, however, continue around the rest of the peninsula due to the presence of the refinery itself.) Currently there is no pedestrian access from Point Richmond to Point Molate, and bicyclists can get there only by riding on freeway shoulders in areas without bike lanes. A fatal accident there on Sep. 24 demonstrated the need for a safer connection.

Chevron, however, has become an obstacle. The sticking point is getting from Point Richmond to the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge toll plaza, where an existing trail runs under the bridge to Western Drive. Chevron claims that pedestrian access to its lands here might give terrorists access to the refinery. But terrorists already have convenient vehicle access just a few yards away on I-580; unless Chevron is proposing to close down I-580, the Bay Trail wouldn't significantly weaken Chevron's security.

The problem was studied in "Feasibility Study of Bay Trail Routes to the Point San Pablo Peninsula" (July 31, 2001), funded by Chevron, the city of Richmond, and the Bay Trail Project of the Association of Bay Area Governments, with additional guidance from the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, Caltrans, the East Bay Regional Park District, and the Trails for Richmond Action Committee. It was agreed by consensus that a route from the end of Tewksbury Avenue to the toll plaza, over Chevron property next to I-580, would provide a workable Bay Trail connection while meeting Chevron's security concerns. Since then, however, Chevron has refused to provide the public access or even to enter into substantive discussions about it.

Short of eminent domain, the California State Lands Commission offers the only hope for closing this trail gap. Chevron needs to renew its lease on the state sub-tidal lands under its Long Wharf, over which crude oil is pumped from tankers to the refinery. Last year elected officials, government agencies, and public-interest groups wrote the commission requesting that Chevron be required to mitigate the adverse impacts associated with the lease of these state lands by providing land and helping pay the cost of building this Bay Trail segment. In February, however, commission staff recommended rejecting these requests in its "Finalizing Addendum to the Draft Environmental Impact Report for Chevron Long Wharf Lease Renewal". The final decision is to be made by the commission some time this summer.

On March 20, the Richmond City Council adopted a strong resolution asking the commission to require Chevron to provide land and contribute toward the cost of the Bay Trail connection.

WhatYouCanDo

Write to:
Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, chair of the State Lands Commission
State Capitol, #1114
Sacramento, CA 95814
fax: (916)323-4998
Lt.Governor@ltgov.ca.gov

with a copy to:
Executive Officer Paul Thayer
California State Lands Commission
100 Howe Ave., #100-South
Sacramento, CA 95825-8202
fax: (916)574-1810
thayerp@slc.ca.gov

Urge the commission to require Chevron to provide land and help pay for connecting the San Francisco Bay Trail with Point Molate before granting a new 30-year lease of public lands for operation of Long Wharf.

You can find updates on this issue at www.pointrichmond.com/baytrail/whatnow.htm

To join in the West Contra Costa County Group's efforts for this trail segment, contact or call (510) 848-0800, ext. 304

Bruce Beyaert, chair, Trails for Richmond Action Committee