Following the City Council’s unanimous denial of Valero’s proposed crude-by-rail project in September, speculations abounded over whether or not the refinery would sue the city of Benicia over its decision. Residents received an answer at Tuesday’s council meeting when City Attorney Heather McLaughlin reported that Valero would not go forward with a lawsuit.

During the announcements portion, where McLaughlin reported on action taken on items during the earlier closed session, the city attorney talked about a call she had received from Diane Sinclair, an attorney for Valero. Sinclair said the refinery had considered a lawsuit but ultimately decided against it because they wanted to maintain good relations with Benicia and its city staff.

McLaughlin said the news was the “best Christmas present ever.”

“I thanked them for their courtesy, in letting us know ahead of time that they were planning on it, and also letting us know ahead of time that they weren’t going to do it,” she said. “That really eases up the workload on staff.”

“Good news, indeed,” Mayor Elizabeth Patterson remarked shortly after the news was presented.

In an email to the Herald, Patterson expressed gratitude for Valero over its decision and she hopes the city and refinery can continue to find common ground on issues affecting residents.

“Valero is a valuable business for Benicia,” she said. “There are many opportunities for us to work together such as the locations and operations of the local air monitoring that the BAAQMD will be implementing. We share Valero’s concerns of new residential development on the so-called Seeno site to avoid conflicts. And lastly I look forward to Valero’s proactive participation on our Community Sustainability Commission.”

2016 was certainly a big year for the crude-by-rail debate. Keep reading the Herald for a recap of the project, specifically what happened in 2016, as well as other big Benicia news stories when the Herald does its year-end retrospective.

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