The Chevron oil refinery fire at Richmond on August 6, 2012 cast lingering after effects on the Bay Area. The residual smoke from burning volatile organic chemicals were an immediate health concern to those local to Richmond and the neighboring area.

The refinery was forced to shut down due to the incident. As a result, many citizens outside of Chevron and its customers are influenced by this predicament.

“We will be working to repair the affected equipment so that we can resume normal operations as soon as we can do so safely,” said Sean Comey, external communications advisor of Chevron corporation.

According to Professor of Biology, Christine Case, there is little to no long term effects to be concerned with. The pollutants will not stay in the area and cost lasting damage unless they concentrate to a waterway.

“Pollutants they go into the air, move with the wind, and then usually get rained out,” Case said. “They’re heavy, and that means with gravity and even with rain that they will fall to the ground. Then when they land on the ground, bacteria will probably decompose them and it will be relatively harmless.”

Case stated that since the wind from the Bay Area blows generally from west to east, those in San Bruno were at a safe distance from the chemicals of the smoke.

Though important, the health of the inhabitants of the Bay Area is not the only concern stemming from the fire. The price of gasoline consumers have to pay had risen quickly after the incident. The price went up 20-25 cents more a gallon.

From an economic standpoint, the raise in gas prices will not have a large impact. It is the same from an environmental standpoint. Once the initial fire and smoke had cleared, a variety of health hazards diminished significantly. Therefore, even if the price raise in a necessary commodity is hindering to the public, the inhabitants of Richmond took the immediate impact of the refinery fire.

“The fire at Chevron is not just an issue between Chevron and its customers,” said Professor of Economics, Masao Suzuki. “It’s an issue to everybody living around there even if they’re not Chevron customers.”

Despite the incident happening only within Richmond‘s vicinity, gas prices ended up rising all across California.

“Companies that have unplanned shutdowns often need to buy additional product at higher market prices to meet customer demands,” said Comey.

Commuters are paying more for gasoline for a variety reasons. According to Suzuki, this is due to the fact that the gas industry is concentrated to few corporations. When the Chevron refinery went out, it created enough of a shortage of gasoline supply to raise prices.

Chevron, along side its competitors, increased gas prices without hesitation after the incident.

It is because Chevron, along with the other major gas corporations can “profit even more from the ups and downs by quickly raising prices, or even raising them in anticipation,“ said Suzuki. “But then when there’s downward pressure, they tend to go down rather slowly.”

Those who commute to Skyline everyday using fuel will continue to be affected by the price spike in gasoline. The faculty and student body of Skyline will be carrying that very burden.

“It’s all about money. Everyone needs gas so no matter if they raise it or not,” said Skyline student Jonathan Gulingan. “People can get mad but we can’t do anything about it because we all need gas to get places.”