Monica Brown, who represents Benicia on the Solano County Board of Supervisors, voiced her concerns about the expansion of oil tankers at the Phillips 66 refinery in Rodeo in a public comment sent to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD).

The refinery recently announced its intention to double the amount of ships to deliver crude oil to its marine terminal. Currently, the refinery processes crude oil from an array of domestic and foreign sources to the terminal in addition to oil delivered via pipeline from central California.

Brown’s concerns stemmed from an incident in September where oil sheens connected to a Phillips 66 tanker spilled into the San Pablo Bay emitting an odor that sent people in nearby areas— including Vallejo— to hospitals with complaints of dizziness and nausea. In her comment, Brown said the impact of the spill was felt in Benicia and Vallejo.

“My constituents in Benicia and Vallejo have experienced immense environmental problems because of the Phillips 66 spill last September that caused a disturbing odor in both cities,” she wrote. “The odor sent people to the hospital and cause damage that we still do not know the full extent of the impacts. I was in Benicia the night the spill happened so I experienced this problem firsthand.”

A public scoping meeting for the permit was held in Vallejo on July 27, but Brown felt that one should be held in Benicia as well.

“My Benicia constituents were impacted by the last Phillips 66 and deserve to have a voice in something that has already so negatively impacted them,” she wrote.

Brown closed her letter by raising eight points that she felt should be addressed by the proposal’s Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR): the potential cumulative impacts of a Phillips 66 expansion when combined with the proximity of the Valero Benicia Refinery, high asthma rates in South Vallejo, the potential impacts of another oil spill, the compounded impacts of the Phillips 66 expansion with the proposed Orcem cement factory in Vallejo, the need for an environmental justice analysis, the need for public outreach in the impacted communities— including public meetings in Benicia and Vallejo, suggesting that BAAQMD advertise the DEIR comment period and Draft Focused Environmental Impact Report hearing, and requiring air monitors in impacted communities.

Pubic comments on the proposed Phillips 66 oil tanker expansion will be accepted through Aug. 28 and can be sent to P66MarineTerminalPermitRevision@baaqmd.gov.

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