PARTNERSHIP STRUCTURE

The CCRTP is made up of nine core organizations, five of which have voting power within the partnership (*)—reflecting their direct representation of impacted frontline workers and communities—with the other three organizations acting as non-voting supporting organizations:

• United Steelworkers District 12* United Steelworkers Local 5* 
• United Steelworkers International Union  
• Asian Pacific Environmental Network* 
• UA Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 342* 
• Contra Costa Central Labor Council* 
• California Federation of Labor Unions 
• UC Berkeley Labor Center 
• BlueGreen Alliance Foundation 

PARTNERSHIP GOALS

1. Strengthen relationships between key Bay Area labor and community refinery stakeholders; 
2. Develop a set of strategies and policies for ensuring a fair and just transition across multiple potential transition scenarios; 
3. Develop a worker and community-centered economic vision to provide sustainable high-road employment, community health, and regional economic benefits in the Bay Area’s refinery region as the fossil fuel sector declines, and 
4. Advocate for and advance the implementation of the recommended strategies. 

INTRODUCTION

The State of California has established itself as a global leader in addressing the climate crisis, working to keep global warming under 1.5*C by mid-century in alignment with the Paris Climate Agreement. Decarbonizing transportation is central to the state’s goals, with the transportation sector responsible for about 40% of California’s greenhouse gas emissions, and oil refineries as the largest sources of industrial greenhouse gas emissions and harmful pollution. Within this context, Governor Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order N-79-20 in September 2020 required that all new passenger cars and trucks sold in California be 100% zero-emission by 2035, signaling a clear policy direction to transition away from oil.

One month earlier, leadership at the Marathon Martinez oil refinery in Contra Costa County announced that they would indefinitely idle the 160,000 barrel-per-day facility, resulting in over 700 job losses, including 350 members of the United Steelworkers Local 5. The job losses, given with only 60 days’ notice, were a shock to workers and their families, who were prohibited from transferring to other Marathon facilities and only supported by short-term union-negotiated severance.

Contra Costa County labor, environmental, and environmental justice groups—who had previously collaborated to strengthen refinery safety—now faced an urgent and critical need to plan for refinery transition and ensure that workers and communities are placed at the center of this process.

Key Takeaways

• California’s response to the climate crisis, as well as corresponding market changes, will lead to refinery closures, conversions, and land re-use. In the face of this transition, Contra Costa County and the Bay Area must start preparations now. As California takes necessary action to respond to the climate crisis and meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius, the state is decarbonizing the economy and phasing out the use of fossil fuels in transportation. This phase-out will result in a significant reduction of demand (“demand destruction”) for the primary products produced by the San Francisco Bay Area’s refineries. Of the Bay Area’s current five refineries, the CCRTP’s San Francisco Bay Area Refinery Transition Analysis anticipates that a 65% to 92% reduction in production capacity is likely by 2045. By that time, the region may have one large or two small oil refineries to serve the remaining market, or no oil refineries at all, depending on the pace of transition and the degree to which refineries pivot to exports in response to declining regional consumption. It is imperative to begin planning to minimize impacts to workers and communities from this transition.
• Refinery workers are exposed to significant harm from refinery closures due to the lack of an established worker safety net and the scarcity of quality comparable jobs elsewhere in the local economy. There are 3,000 direct and 15,000 indirect jobs in Contra Costa that are linked to the refinery industry. Many of these jobs—particularly in refinery operator, construction trades, and maintenance occupations—are well-paid, union jobs with good benefits. CCRTP commissioned a study on the impacts on the Marathon Martinez refinery workers following their layoff (Fossil Fuel Layoff: The economic and employment effects of a refinery closure on workers in the Bay Area), which demonstrated that workers and their families are significantly harmed by facility closure and that current safety net programs provide neither sufficient financial assistance nor effective assistance for transitioning to comparable new jobs. Former Marathon workers experienced an average unemployment rate of 26% one year following layoff, and a reduction in wages of 24% for those securing new employment, in addition to significant financial and mental health strain. Additionally, UC Berkeley Labor Center’s Refinery Worker Job Match Analysis (included as an Appendix to their Refining Transition: A Just Transition Economic Development Framework for Contra Costa County report) documents that the regional economy currently generates only a very limited number of jobs that match refinery workers’ skills and also provide similar pay, benefits and working conditions. This limits the ability of refinery workers to find comparable employment, underscoring the need for significant focused economic development and job quality improvement efforts.
• The dependence of Contra Costa County on taxes generated by the oil refining industry means that the county will need to find new sources of revenue as the energy transition unfolds. In 2022, Contra Costa County government, local cities, and Special Districts received an estimated $136 million in direct taxes from the refining industry and $836 million in indirect tax revenue. Indirect inputs for Contra Costa’s refinery industry include activities like construction maintenance, truck transportation, machinery repair and maintenance, and building services, among others. This amounted to a total of 5% (direct) and 31% (indirect) of the County’s locally generated tax revenue that year (or 1%, and 5%, respectively, of Contra Costa County’s total revenue from all sources). Additionally, these taxes amounted to 3.5% (direct) and 22% (indirect) of Special District annual revenue. Special Districts’ revenue supports critical services such as fire protection, water, sewage, and transportation, as well as quality public-sector jobs. The county must prepare now to avoid a significant decline in local revenue when facilities close or convert to new uses, including carrying out further detailed tax analysis and developing a proactive tax revenue strategy. Contra Costa will also need to prioritize economic development investment and seek state and federal support.
• Economic development is an essential element of a just transition strategy for Contra Costa. A just transition economic development framework is necessary to meet displaced worker needs and avoid perpetuating pollution burden and inequality. CCRTP’s commissioned report from UC Berkeley Labor Center, Refining Transition: A Just Transition Economic Development Framework, identifies that Contra Costa is facing two core challenges: (1) A highly unequal economy, with low-income communities burdened by pollution and lack of access to quality jobs, and (2) refinery transition that will result in significant job losses and risk to essential tax revenues in Contra Costa. To address both challenges, Contra Costa County and local cities must pursue an approach to economic development that focuses on the three interrelated core priorities: quality jobs, healthy communities, and economic resilience. A just transition in Contra Costa requires a commitment to the quality of 3 economic growth as much as the quantity, and an understanding that environmental and economic justice are not oppositional forces to growth, but instead are necessary, complementary strategies for achieving a just, new regional economy.
• Refinery closures bring significant health improvement to local communities. However, there is a risk of ongoing pollution and harm when proactive clean-up policies are absent. Refineries are among the top sources of pollution in California and have impacted local communities for decades—disproportionately harming the working class, people of color, and immigrants who experience elevated rates of pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases and cancers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that refinery pollution in Contra Costa has a local economic impact between $290 million and $560 million a year from health costs, as well as loss of school and workdays. For many community members, refinery closures offer a long-awaited hope of relief. However, closures also bring the ongoing health risks associated with thousands of acres of highly polluted lands and waters and a regulatory structure that has often failed to hold polluters accountable for full-clean up. Preparing for future closures, conversions, and re-use requires planning ahead to set decommissioning and clean-up standards, as well as holding refinery owners responsible for clean-up and remediation costs.
• Local government must be proactive to re-envision land use after a refinery closure or conversion announcement, closely engaging impacted workers and communities in the process. Contra Costa’s refineries occupy thousands of acres of waterfront land that offers significant redevelopment potential, depending on the level of clean-up that is possible and is actually completed. Following a facility announcement of closure or conversion, local governments must act proactively to re-envision land use—including closely engaging impacted communities and workers—to advance and implement a shared vision for redevelopment that advances community needs.

Appendix–COMMISSIONED RESEARCHED STUDIES:

1. UC Berkeley Labor Center, Refining Transition: A Just Transition Economic Development Framework for Contra Costa County. Available online: https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/refining-transition/
2. UC Berkeley Labor Center, Fossil Fuel Layoff: The Effects of a Refinery Closure on Workers in the Bay Area. Available online: https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/fossil-fuel-layoff/
3. Christina Simeone and Ian Lange, San Francisco Bay Area Refinery Transition Analysis, November 2022. Available online: https://www.bluegreenalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/San-Francisco-Bay-Area-Refinery-Transition-Analysis.pdf 

QUESTIONS: 

For questions regarding this report or to get in touch with the Contra Costa Refinery Transition Partnership, please contact Josh Sonnenfeld, Senior California Strategist at BlueGreen Alliance at jsonnenfeld@bluegreenalliance.org  

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