Richmond is nestled within a ring of five major oil refineries, three chemical companies, eight Superfund sites, dozens of
other toxic waste sites, highways, two rail yards, plus a port that supplies tankers.
California officials have ordered an emergency shut - down of 11 oil and gas
waste injection
sites and a review more than 100
others in the state's drought - wracked Central Valley out of fear that companies may have been pumping fracking fluids and
other toxic waste into drinking water aquifers there.