■ Council mulls $18K to learn feasibility of joining Community Choice Aggregation

Benicia City Council may decide Tuesday to take the first step toward membership in the Marin Clean Energy community choice aggregation.

Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) is an alternative to Pacific Gas and Electric for electricity supply. Local organizations may form such organizations to acquire power produced by more renewable sources, although transmission of the electricity and billing still would be handled by PG&E.

Benicia Climate Action Plan Coordinator Alex Porteshawver has researched CCAs, and she’s looked for ways to fund the Marin aggregation’s application costs, City Manager Brad Kilger wrote the Council.

The application, which costs $18,000, is a technical study that determines a candidate’s electrical code and whether the CCA could provide cost-effective service. It will determine whether it makes financial sense for Benicia to join.

Porteshawver has recommended the Council authorize spending that amount from the Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee Settlement Agreement, or finding another source of money.

Kilger said Porteshawver would manage the study, and would communicate with Marin.

The city of Richmond also is a member of the Marin CCA.

Kilger said the technical study would be complete in time to present to the Council in September.

In other matters, the Council will decide Tuesday whether to authorize up to $1.9 million in Valero-Good Neighbor money for a variety of Community Sustainability Commission grants, including one for the CCA technical study cost.

Kilger has presented the Council with two options if it wants to approve the grants. One presumes that the commission would be unable to spend about $1.4 million that has been earmarked for Benicia Valero Refinery’s second phase of a condensate recovery project, unless another program is proposed that would save even more water, he wrote.

The other option adds grant awards should the Council decide the projects would be a better way to spend the money.

Part of the settlement provides that the commission may review proposals and recommend the Council authorize funding, so long as the projects meet provisions of the agreement, Kilger wrote May 14.

The account was established in 2008 for Benicia and Benicia Unified School District use through the Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee Settlement Agreement. All parties have agreed to the settlement, which is like a contract for the money’s disbursement.

Money in that account can only be used for specific projects or expenditures.

In 2008, the refinery and the committee agreed that of the $14 million settlement account, $200,000 should be spent on air quality monitoring; $50,000 for hybrid cars; $700,000 for trees; $1 million each for a refinery buffer and watershed acquisition; $400,000 for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by Benicia Unified School District; $10 million for water conservation; and $600,000 for Climate Action Plan projects.

In 2010, the pact was modified to allow spending $2.85 million on the city’s new Community Center, $1 million for BUSD district office and Liberty campus upgrades and $1.4 million for the Valero Condensate Recovery Phase 1 to save 23 million gallons of water a year.

In lieu of attorney fees, $150,000 also was earmarked for community gardens, a renewable energy manager, energy conservation, a school horticultural program and bicycle racks.

Kilger wrote that $847,000 remains in unallocated funds for projects, in addition to the money that could be used on the condensate recovery project’s second phase.

The agreement specifies that any Valero refinery water conservation projects must be discretionary and not mandated to meet regulations, and that the Community Sustainability Commission give priority to other water reduction projects. However, the panel also may recommend funding for projects that would reduce greenhouse gases, encourage sustainability or energy efficiency and support the Benicia Climate Action Plan.

The commission itself adopted other criteria when evaluating grant proposals, such as water and energy conservation; an applicant’s ability to establish and meet quantifiable goals; collaboration with other organizations; outreach to the community, either to new or larger segments of the population; combining the grant with other funding sources; and an applicant’s documented experience in managing other projects.

The CSC received 13 grant applications for a total of $1,930,385.42, Kilger wrote.

Applicants met with the CSC to present their requests May 7, and the panel ranked the applications May 19.

“In previous grant cycles, the CSC has focused solely on the use of the discretionary Future Projects funds,” Kilger wrote. This time, the CSC proposed using the remaining money in the Valero Condensate Recovery Project fund, he wrote.

If the Council decides the condensate project money can’t be touched, $310,008 would be awarded to seven recipients, leaving $536,922 in unallocated funds.

The second option would authorize $1.6 million in grants, Kilger wrote. “In order to approve this option, the City Council will first need to determine if CRP II (condensate recovery project II) monies are available,” he wrote.

The CRP II project should save at least 17 million gallons annually, but will need CSC review, and the refinery must have all needed permits and approvals in place before it would get the money.

Refinery officials have contended that Valero’s presentation Sept. 19, 2011, before the CSC meets the mandated review, though City Attorney Heather McLaughlin has reviewed settlement agreement language and said that the conditions that require the use of the $1.6 million for CRP II haven’t been met, nor are the permits in place.

The settlement agreement states the money is reserved for the CRP II once those conditions are met. Since the funds haven’t been designated for the recovery project, it may be spent instead on other water conservation projects, Kilger wrote.

The largest grant, $105,680, would go to Benicia Community Gardens for its sustainable backyard program to expand local food growing. This would be all the money the organization requested.

Another $100,000 would go to the Benicia Economic Development Division for the continuation of the Benicia Resource Incentives Program. Division Manager Mario Giuliani had hoped to get $500,000 for the water, waste and energy reduction program.

Benicia Tree Foundation would get all of its requested $35,000 to underwrite planting of additional trees; and Benicia Public Works would get all of its $20,000 for a water rebate program.

The commission itself would get $18,000 to pay for an assessment of Benicia as a candidate for Marin County’s community choice aggregation that provides electricity from sustainable sources; and Benicia High School would get $11,328, all the money it requested for its ECH20 environmental academy.

If the Council agrees to spend the money that could have gone to the Valero condensate recovery project, the CSC has asked that the previously approved WattzOn Residential Water Program get $293,653 of that money, instead of unallocated funds it originally was awarded, so that the unallocated money could be awarded to projects that don’t save water such as $20,000 for Bicycle Benicia and $40,000 for the Benicia Makerspace community workspace.

Disbursements of some of the other grants would be modified so some of the money would come from undesignated funds, and the balance would come from the CRP II-designated money.

The CSC also has asked the Council to spend $716,301, rather than its original request of $1.3 million, for additional water conservation projects. The panel originally proposed its water conservation project, for generous rebates, as a counter offer to the Valero project.

Among other grants, Benicia Parks and Community Services would be awarded $153,000 for an irrigation system and $46,000 for drip irrigation. Benicia Unified School District would get $60,970 for the CalSense water management system; and the Solano Resource Conservation District would get $48,407.42 for Suisun Marsh Watershed education.

The Council will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chamber of City Hall, 250 East L St.