To President Mayhew and the National Cherry Blossom Festival sponsorship team,

We, the undersigned, are passionate participants and supporters of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, a beloved event that celebrates community spirit and natural beauty in the Washington, D.C. region. We value the festival’s positive impact and are concerned about its sponsorship ties to Chevron, a corporation whose actions are not aligned with the festival’s values of international friendship and environmental sustainability. From Palestine, to Venezuela, to the United States, Chevron has destroyed countless communities and ecosystems, making it an unworthy partner for the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Genocide and Ecocide

Chevron plays an active role in fueling human rights violations and environmental destruction. One glaring example is the company’s co-ownership and operation of the Tamar and Leviathan gas fields off the coast of Israel, which directly contribute to Israel's military operations that cause great harm to Palestinians and their natural resources. This includes providing energy resources critical to the ongoing violence in Gaza, where hospitals, homes, schools, agricultural lands, and waterways are being bombed, even following the end of a ceasefire. Chevron is a major economic partner for Israel – in 2023 alone, Chevron contributed over $820 million in taxes to the Israeli government. Chevron’s actions indirectly support a system of settler colonialism and apartheid in Palestine, which is the subject of widespread global condemnation.

Partly to enable Chevron’s operations off the coast of Gaza, Israel has imposed an air, naval, and land blockade of Gaza since 2007. Chevron’s Tamar processing rig and its pipelines are located just outside the territorial waters of Gaza. The Israeli Navy secured this rig by restricting all Palestinian maritime activities in the area. This has tightened Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza to 3-6 nautical miles since 2009, causing devastating impacts to Gaza’s fishing industry and economy.

Big Oil War Machine

Chevron is a core beneficiary of, and contributor to, a global system where war, sanctions, and militarization secure access to oil and gas. For decades, U.S. military intervention and regime-change operations have followed the trail of fossil fuels. Chevron has consistently positioned itself to profit from this reality.

In Venezuela, oil has been a central motivator for U.S. economic warfare, sanctions, and repeated threats of military intervention. President Trump has repeatedly made that very clear. As the U.S. government escalated pressure and openly discussed regime change, Chevron lobbied to preserve and expand its access to Venezuelan oil, benefiting from instability produced by coercion and siege. This campaign has culminated in the bombing of a sovereign country, the murder of at least 100 residents of Caracas, and illegal abduction and imprisonment of President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.

This pattern is not unique. From Iraq to other oil-rich regions, war and occupation have devastated societies while creating conditions where multinational oil corporations consolidate control over energy resources. Military force destroys sovereignty, and corporations like Chevron step in to extract wealth amid the wreckage.

Chevron’s profits are inseparable from a world shaped by endless war for energy dominance. This is why Chevron belongs to the Big Oil war machine, one that thrives on conflict abroad while attempting to buy legitimacy through cultural sponsorships at home.
Fueling Climate Chaos

Not only does Chevron have a destructive impact internationally, it has a long record of domestic destruction, ruining ecosystems and the lives of fellow Americans. Chevron has had a history of damaging local lands, accelerating climate change, and impacting the environment.

Starting in the 1940s, Texaco, which was acquired by Chevron, mismanaged mining areas in Louisiana by dumping wastewater into marshes. After completing mining operations, the company failed to restore the marshes to original conditions, causing an estimated $1 billion in damages.

More recently, there have been numerous cases of Chevron mismanaging drilling and refining operations. Between 2018 and 2023, Chevron has been found responsible for over 70 oil spills in Kern County, California, creating a hazardous environment and negatively impacting public health, resulting in the deaths and displacement of numerous animals and grassland habitats and costing more than $13 million.

These operations have cut across to the Permian Basin where Chevron has been found responsible for improper pluggage of abandoned wells. The result has allowed toxic fumes and waste to leach through the air and ground, again displacing local habitats, intoxicating ground water, and accelerating climate change by releasing more greenhouse gases.

A corporation so invested in making money that it places profits over our planet should not have its name on the National Cherry Blossom Festival, especially when climate change and rising sea levels have led to tree death and earlier, more sporadic bloom seasons each year.

Stop Using Genocide Dollars to Fund the NCBF

We as festival participants and members of the community are asking you to DROP CHEVRON AS A SPONSOR. The National Cherry Blossom Festival can survive and thrive without the blood money of a corporation that harms people and the planet. If you truly care about community spirit and the beauty of nature, it’s time to prove it by cutting ties with Chevron.