We're committed to helping meet the world's need for energy while taking steps to protect the environment. We believe that is the right thing to do and that is critical to our success in a world in which energy sources should be compatible with an environment that's clean, safe and healthy.
That's why we are continually working to improve our processes to reduce pollution and waste, conserve natural resources, and reduce potentially negative environmental impacts of our activities and operations.
Protecting the Environment
Our Operational Excellence Management System is our framework for achieving excellent environmental performance. We use the process to systematically manage safety, health, the environment, reliability and efficiency.
Our Environmental, Social and Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA) process, deployed in 2007, requires that all new capital projects be evaluated for potential environmental, social and health impacts. ESHIA is used to anticipate and plan for the avoidance, minimization and mitigation of potentially significant negative impacts, as well as for the enhancement of potential benefits during the planning, construction, operation and decommissioning of our projects. Stakeholder engagement is central to the ESHIA process throughout the life of a project.
Since its inception, ESHIA has been applied to more than 690 capital projects worldwide, including, for example, the Frade Field in the Campos Basin offshore Brazil. To help assess and identify ways to reduce potential impacts of the development of the Frade Field, Chevron Brasil is working with the Federal University of Rio Grande to study the distribution and abundance of marine mammals in the area, particularly whales, dolphins and other cetaceans. The project will identify and monitor areas where whales and dolphins congregate, which also will inform the establishment of conservation areas.
Respecting Biodiversity
Our measures to preserve the environment are based on our awareness of the value of the complexity of the natural world. We recognize the importance of conserving biological diversity—the rich variety of life on Earth: its ecosystems, species and genes and the ecological processes that support them. Chevron's Biodiversity Statement expresses our commitment to incorporating biodiversity considerations into capital project evaluations and decision making as part of our ESHIA process. In addition, our business units and operating companies incorporate biodiversity protection into their operations through implementation of our corporate Health, Environment and Safety Risk Management process and our corporate Property Transfer requirements. Our Health, Environment and Safety staffs work to protect habitats near our operations and share their best practices through the Chevron Biodiversity Network.
Chevron's management of the Barrow Island oil field, off the northwest coast of Australia, is recognized as an industry benchmark for the coexistence of petroleum development and biodiversity protection. Since operations began in 1964, Chevron has helped prevent the introduction of invasive mammal species and the spread of weeds on this Class A nature reserve. And now, with the development of the Gorgon Project, which will produce liquefied natural gas and domestic gas on the island, Chevron continues to demonstrate that energy production and environmental conservation can coexist.
Another example of our commitment to preserving biodiversity is our Salak Project. Among the largest geothermal fields in the world, Salak is inside one of Indonesia's biggest national parks and only an hour drive from Jakarta, the nation's capital. We work with local farmers, park rangers and international wildlife groups to protect endangered species such as gibbons, hawk eagles and leopards while producing energy to power Indonesia's economic growth. In 2010, Chevron received Indonesia's prestigious trophy for Best Environmental Management for our operations at Salak.
Preserving Freshwater Resources
Chevron recognizes the value of fresh water as a fundamental social, environmental and economic resource. As a global company, we know that access to sufficient sources of useful water is essential for the communities where we operate, as well as to our business. Chevron has developed an integrated corporate freshwater management strategy to enhance current processes, tools and guidance on water stewardship and management throughout the corporation. In addition, we developed a global position statement on fresh water, underscoring the significance of this critical resource. In addition, we developed a global position statement on fresh water, underscoring the significance of this critical resource.
In Kern County, home to Chevron’s largest California oil field, we have partnered with the Cawelo Water District to provide much-needed water for agricultural use. Water is a significant byproduct of the steamflooding technology we use to coax more oil from the ground. For every one barrel of oil produced in Kern County, the process generates 10 barrels of water, which we capture, treat and distribute to local farmers.
Also in California, Chevron worked with two municipal water treatment plants near our Richmond facility to repurpose ponds formerly used by Chevron Chemical. The ponds now provide additional storm water surge capacity to help prevent sewage and untreated wastewater from bypassing the system and flowing into San Francisco Bay during big storms.
Updated: May 2011