Benicia fee hikes The Benicia mayor and City Council are preparing to vote on fee increases and new permits that are estimated to raise $1.5 million as our elected officials attempt to balance the city budget. This increase would be in addition to the water and sewer rate increases passed by the city council last […]
State AG: Valero DEIR ‘inadequate’
■ Kamala Harris letter to city: Crude-by-rail report fails to address multiple key issues In a letter composed Oct. 2, California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris urged Benicia to revise the Draft Environmental Impact Report prepared for the proposed Valero Crude-by-Rail Project. She and Deputy Attorney General Scott J. Lichtig wrote Benicia Principal Planner Amy […]
From military to industrial: Benicia’s ‘overnight’ transition
How a refinery and the Industrial Park shaped the city In Benicia’s not-too-distant past, its financial situation was so dire that employees who were handed checks on Friday were told not to cash them until Tuesday. That was before the U.S. Army announced in the early 1960s that the Benicia Arsenal would be the first […]
Valero refinery engineers to address DEIR
Monday meeting requires RSVP Valero Benicia Refinery engineers will speak Monday at a public meeting on the refinery’s Crude-by-Rail Project and Benicia’s Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) that was released June 17. “Valero remains committed to informing the community about the project and to promoting public discussion of the DEIR,” refinery officials said in an […]
Planning Commission prepares for release of oil-by-rail report
Several residents spoke out Thursday about the proposed Valero Benicia Refinery Crude-by-Rail project, which would add train track to the refinery’s own property so Union Pacific could deliver domestic crude oil, replacing some of the oil currently supplied to Valero by oceanic tanker ships. Residents speaking to the Planning Commission asked that the public get […]
Long-awaited Valero crude-by-rail EIR delayed again
A draft of the city’s environmental impact report (EIR) for the Valero Crude-by-Rail use permit request was due to be released Tuesday, but a last-minute staff decision has delayed the report by a week, Benicia Principal Planner Amy Million said. “City staff determined that additional information was needed to more completely address potential air quality […]
Crude-by-Rail plan review to be released June 10
Environmental impact report launched last summer to examine Valero proposal The draft of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) being prepared for the Valero Crude-by-Rail Project will be released by June 10, Principal Planner Amy Million announced Thursday. The long-awaited document will be given a 45-day public review, during which people may submit their comments, she […]
Joel Fallon: The Gold Rush and the Oil Rush, a sad parallel
BY THE 1850s, IT HAD BECOME INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT FOR SMALL-SCALE MINERS to find and profitably extract gold from California’s gold country. That’s when big-time operators moved in with hydraulic technology. Sediment, washed away by their high-pressure hoses, dammed or clogged riverbeds and lakes. Rivers’ courses changed. Agriculture was threatened in the Central Valley. Conflicts over […]
Valero puts safety first for the community, employees
IN RESPONSE TO A LETTER TO THE EDITOR last week in The Benicia Herald, I want to correct the most important misinformation the writer shared with the newspaper’s readers. It had to do with the suggestion that Valero would put profits above safety. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a Benicia resident and […]