Cleaning Up Our Industrial Past to Create a Better Future

Centuries of economic growth have boosted living standards, improved health and created opportunities for humankind – but global industrial development has also left behind tracts of contaminated land.

Cleaning up these "brownfield" lands is a complex, multi-billion dollar business involving agencies, responsible parties, consultants and other stakeholders. Businesses and communities face cleanup challenges and sometimes multiple options to re-use renewed sites, such as habitat restoration, industrial or commercial redevelopment, housing and renewable energy projects. But for many sites, cleanup and reuse are difficult or impossible using today's technologies.

Chevron spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually on environmental cleanup at sites of former service stations, oil refineries, chemical plants, oil fields, pipelines and other operations. The work is performed by Chevron Environmental Management Company (EMC), founded in 1998 to manage the company's legacy cleanup responsibilities. EMC focuses on cost-efficient, technically-sound remediation and on protecting the environment and public health. It works in partnership with communities and government on solutions that provide local benefit and are grounded in sound science, and invests in better remediation technologies. EMC promotes beneficial reuses ranging from condominiums to warehouses, and solar energy generation to constructed wetlands. Through a dedication to environmental stewardship, Chevron is committed to cleaning up the past, but we view our responsibility also as a major opportunity to create a better future.

Speaker: Janeen S. Judah, President, Chevron Environmental Management Company