Chevron last week continued to move forward on the plan that it announced back in March to cut about 2,000 downstream workers worldwide this year. At the time, the big news on the West Coast was that Chevron was not going to close its Richmond refinery despite the running feud between the company and the city over how much local government spending Chevron should be expected to pay for through taxes.

Now there are some numbers to go with the layoff plans for the Bay Area - 620 employees in San Ramon, 305 in Concord. The new Chevron hit list does not include about 1,000 workers who lost their jobs last summer when a lawsuit by environmental groups forced the company to abandon work already underway to upgrade the Richmond refinery.

An Environmental Impact Report for the project had been approved by the City Council, but the activists argued that the document was insufficient. A judge agreed and ordered work on the project halted.

-- The Cunningham Report