Benicia Herald Staff Report

On Wednesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a settlement with Valero Refining Company – California over improper management of hazardous waste and toxic chemicals at its crude oil refinery in Benicia. Violations included illegally disposing benzene into an unlined stormwater retention pond and not alerting the public about all of its toxic chemical releases.
As a result, Valero will pay a $157,800 penalty and modify its piping operations. By the end of 2016, it will submit a work plan with completion of the project expected by June 2017. The goal is to prevent an estimated 5,000 pounds of benzene from being released into the environment over the next 10 years.
In May 2014, EPA performed an inspection at Valero’s Benicia refinery to see if the company was complying with the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.
Among the additional violations uncovered by the inspection:
*The company’s failure to determine if solid waste generated at the refinery was hazardous
*Failure to maintain and operate the facility as needed to minimize the possibility of any unplanned release.
*Failure to maintain complete and accurate records at the facility.
“Valero’s operations can affect both the communities near the refinery and the wildlife habitat of Suisun Bay,” Alexis Strauss, EPA’s acting regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest, said in a statement. “It is critical for Valero to comply with federal laws that protect public health and our natural resources.”
Valero Media Relations & Communication Director Lillian Riojas provided the Herald with the following response Thursday:
“Valero takes a lot of pride in running a safe and environmentally protective operation, and we are pleased to have reached this settlement. This settlement was primarily driven by difficulty we experienced on a handful of occasions during some extreme weather events that occurred a number of years ago, and the agreement outlines what we are doing improve the refinery’s ability to handle extreme rainfall events in the future. In addition, we’ve resolved some software issues that resulted in some minor discrepancies in our TRI reporting, most of which actually resulted in overreporting rather than underreporting.”

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