VIDEO: Activists Claim Benicia Polluter Repeatedly Put Toxic ‘Pet Coke’ in San Francisco Bay

SF Bay Area original report with comments by longtime Benicia activist Marilyn Bardet and SF Baykeeper investigator Cole Burchiel


KPIX CBS SF Bay Area, October 25, 2021

Andria Borba reports on activists accusing port in Benicia of spewing “petroleum coke” into San Francisco Bay (10-25-2021)

Benicia’s close calls during the historic October 24 flooding

Mayor Young: City Staff worked through the night to save Benicia from even more drastic flood impacts

Nextdoor and Facebook, by Benicia Mayor Steve Young, October 25, 2021
Benicia Mayor Steve Young

The historic storm yesterday saw the City staff make a number of critical decisions that saved the possible failure of an aging lift station in the Industrial Park. Had that station failed, significant amounts of raw sewage would have been released into the Strait and the City would likely have faced very large fines. Besides the quick and decisive action by the Public Works Utility staff, a huge thank you to Ponder Environmental for loaning the City some large tanks to help out when most needed.

In addition, the huge amount of water flowing into Lake Herman threatened to reach the spillway in an uncontrolled release, which could have caused flooding into the Industrial Park and elsewhere. The decision was made to fully open the release valve and divert the water into Sulphur Springs creek. By doing so, we were able to release water as fast as it was coming in.

We all owe our gratitude to the City workers, including Fire and Police, who worked through the night to protect our community.

Solano COVID report – more of the same, 115 new infections, SUBSTANTIAL community transmission

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  CLICK HERE for today’s latest information.

By Roger Straw, Monday, October 25, 2021  [Note: Benicia City Council may weaken mask mandate on Nov. 16 – click to scroll down.  – R.S>]

Monday, October 25: Solano County reports 115 new infections over the weekend, and remains in the CDC’s SUBSTANTIAL 7-day transmission rate.  Benicia also remains in SUBSTANTIAL community transmission.

Solano County COVID dashboard SUMMARY:
[Sources: see below.]

DEATHS: Solano reported no new COVID-related deaths today.  The County has reported 45 COVID deaths since Sept 1.  A total of 315 Solano residents have died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES: The County reported 115 new COVID cases over the weekend, 38 per day.  AGES: 26 of these 115 cases were youth and children under 18.  61 were age 18-49, 22 were age 50-64, and only 5 were 65+.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen SUBSTANTIAL community transmission, with 245 new cases.  Good news is that this is down from 278 on Friday.  CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County’s population, 450 cases in 7 days would move Solano up into the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate, and we will need to drop below 225 cases in 7 days to rate as having only MODERATE community transmission.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 323 ACTIVE cases is down from Friday’s 348, but still far above our summer rates.

CASES BY CITY on Monday, October 25:

    • Benicia added only 3 new cases today, a total of 1,522 cases since the outbreak began.  TRANSMISSION RATE: SUBSTANTIAL.  Benicia has seen 15 new cases over the last 7 days, just above the CDC’s definition of MODERATE community transmission (MODERATE is defined as fewer than 14 cases, based on Benicia population – SEE CHART BELOW).  [Note above that Solano County is currently experiencing SUBSTANTIAL transmission.

    • Dixon added 2 new cases today, total of 2,531 cases.
    • Fairfield added 35 new cases today, total of 12,198 cases.
    • Rio Vista reported at 5 new cases today, total of 603 cases.
    • Suisun City added 8 new cases today, total of 3,223 cases.
    • Vacaville added 33 new cases today, a total of 11,950 cases.
    • Vallejo added 28 new cases today, a total of 13,336 cases.
    • Unincorporated added 1 new case today, a total of 140 cases (population figures not available).

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day average percent positivity rate was 4.5% today, down from Friday’s 5.5%.  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 1.5%[Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down slightly today from 37 to 36 persons, but still far above the range we saw during last summer.

ICU Bed Availability is at 39% today, up from 32% on Friday.  We remain in the worrisome range we saw during last winter’s surge.

Ventilator Availability is up today from 66% to 70%, getting better.

TOTAL hospitalizations: Solano County’s TOTAL hospitalized over the course of the pandemic must be independently discovered in the County’s occasional update of hospitalizations by Age Group and by Race/Ethnicity.  The County did not update its hospitalizations charts today.  Total COVID hospitalizations in Solano remain at 2,838 since the beginning of the outbreak.

ALERT! Benicia’s mask mandate may be weakened by City Council on Nov 16

On Tuesday, October 19, Benicia City Council reviewed our CDC-defined 7-day community transmission rate for September-October, which has yet to dip below the SUBSTANTIAL level.  Because of this poor data and according to City Resolution 21-88, Council left in place Benicia’s citywide indoors mask mandate for now.  The mandate went into effect on August 24 and includes everyone 4 years old and up when indoors in public places, even those of us who are vaccinated.  On Tuesday, Councilmember Largaespada convinced other Councilmembers and staff to bring consideration of amending the mandate back to Council on November 16.  Largaespada suggested amendments that could weaken the mandate with various exceptions, possibly including no indoor mask requirements in restaurants, bars and gyms.  Largaespada would “Limit the mask mandate to the most essential businesses in town.”  He added that groceries, pharmacies, banks and City Hall might be considered essential.

Vallejo also passed an indoors mask mandate on August 31.  In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against a mask mandate for public indoors spaces.

SOLANO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS failed to consider an agendized proposal for a countywide MASK MANDATE on Tuesday, September 14.  Recent Bay Area news put Solano in a sad light: all other county health officers issued a joint statement offering details on when they would be able to lift mask mandates (not likely soon).  TV news anchors had to point out that Solano would not be considering such a move since our health officer had not been able to “justify” a mask mandate in the first place.  The Solano Board of Supervisors has joined with Dr. Bela Matyas in officially showing poor leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic.


HOW DOES TODAY’S REPORT COMPARE?  See recent reports and others going back to April 20, 2020 on my ARCHIVE of daily Solano COVID updates (an excel spreadsheet).


>>The data on this page is from the Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday around 4 or 5pm.  On the County’s dashboard, you can hover a mouse or click on an item for more information.  Note the tabs at top for “Summary, Demographics” and “Vaccines.”  Click here to go to today’s Solano County Dashboard.


Sources

ALERT: MONDAY AT 7PM – KPIX to air expose on Valero/AMPORTS polluting of Carquinez Strait at Port of Benicia

Tune in to KPIX5 TV, CBS SF Bay Area at 7pm on Monday, October 25 – Featuring our own Marilyn Bardet!

Amports’ Port of Benicia, petcoke spill in the Carquinez Strait. Photo: SF Baykeeper
INVITATION
Email, from Marilyn Bardet, 10/24/21

Hello friends,

I’m following up on the letter I posted Oct 7th, to let you know that BayKeeper and KPIX Channel 5 news were in Benicia on Oct 12th, filming all around the port area, and Channel 5 also interviewed me– in my studio, since I have a direct view of the Port. The announcement that BayKeeper is filing an official complaint within 60 days has prompted Channel 5 to tell the story…

If you happen to be watching KPIX for local news during the storm, you might see one of their promo ads for the petcoke story segment they’ll be airing on Monday on their Nightly News at 7. (They even used me in the promo! Very strange!)

As long as you’re safe at home, enjoy the rain!

🙂 Marilyn