Repost from the Benicia Herald (letters are not available in the online edition)
Valero raises further questions
By Grant Cooke, August 10, 2016
Regarding the recent letter by Valero’s environmental manager, Kimberly Ronan. The letter writer complains that there were inaccuracies in a previous letter written by Kathy Kerridge that pointed out that data from BAAQMD indicated that Valero was refining about 65% of its capacity. This clearly begs lots of questions that one would like to ask the refinery.
The Valero’s manager’s response, unfortunately, shied no light on BAAQMD’s reported data. The response was basically, “Kerridge’s analysis may not be right, but we’re not telling what it is” There was also a vague suggestion that BAAQMD’s charts were confusing. Is this really the refinery’s response? (I have a hard time believing that the refinery’s GM and/or corporate communications people didn’t write or review the letter before it went out).
At a time when Valero’s crude-by-rail project has created such animosity, and confusion, the refinery is going to step away from a clear explanation of such a simple question? This sort of misinformation, secrecy, and silliness is just what gets oil companies and other big corporations in deep trouble. Not being clear and straightforward with capacity information has been an issue with California’s refineries for years, and it leads to all sorts of rumors and investigations into maintenance shutdowns and production reductions verse the price of gas and a host of other questions.
Recently, in Valero’s earnings report, which noted that Valero, Inc. made $19.6 billion in Q2 and $87.8 billion last year, Joe Gorder, Valero’s CEO, said “We are also encouraged by ample supplies of medium and heavy sour crude oils in the market…” So, if there is plenty of supply, and Benicia’s refinery isn’t producing at full capacity because the market doesn’t need anymore gas, why the heck is it pushing for a crude-by-rail project that is clearly not in the town’s interests?
On another note, it is not particularly comforting to know that the refinery monitors 265,000 individual valves and components, or that it has a long period of without recordable injury. Those of us who know a bit about mechanical engineering, know that it is not a question of if, but when, a mechanical part will fail, particularly, when you’re dealing with volatile substances. Since Bakkan crude is extremely volatile, knowing that the refinery wants to run that stuff through that many valves and components just makes me shiver.
Here’s why Gogama’s Makami River ‘will never be pristine again’
Small town pushing Ministry of the Environment to require CN to continue clean-up
By CBC News, Aug 10, 2016 7:33 AM ET
Gogama Fire Chief Mike Benson stands by the bridge over the Makami River where an oil train burst into flames in March 2015. (Erik White/CBC )
The fencing around the site of the Gogama train derailment is coming down today, as the clean-up from the oil spill has been declared complete. But residents say their local waters are still contaminated with oil.
Sheens of oil are commonly seen on the Makami River, over which the oil train derailed in March 2015, as well as lake Minisinakwa, on which the town is built.
People have also found several dead fish in recent weeks and wondered if it’s connected to the spill.
“I understand it’s never going to be pristine again,” says Gogama Fire Chief Mike Benson. “There was no sheen, there was no dead fish, there was no oil spill on Mar. 6, 2015.”
“So, we got to try to get it closer than that. Let’s get it to the point that there’s no fish dying. And I’m not going to die of throat cancer in five years because I’ve been eating the fish out of this lake.”
Benson said CN rail is willing to continue the clean-up, but has been told by the Ministry of Environment that the work is satisfactory.
CN has agreed to let more soil samples be taken from the site and be sent away for independent testing, along with some of the dead fish, at the company’s expense.
In a statement the railroad said that “CN recognizes that local citizens have identified areas of concern, where they believe further clean up should be done in order to protect human and fish populations. CN is today on the ground in Gogama, working with local residents to identify specific areas.”
After a year and a half, the fencing around the site of the train derailment and oil spill near Gogama will come down and it will once again be open to the public. (Erik White/CBC )
Benson said he was surprised to find out over the last year and a half that the railroad was responsible for the environment testing, not the Ministry of the Environment.
“I can’t believe our government tells the fox to test the chickens,” Benson told a public meeting of over 100 people at the Gogama Community Centre, which ministry officials were invited to attend.
“Because that’s basically what they were doing. They were saying ‘OK, you got a mess. Tell us when it’s clean.'”
Benson said Ministry of Environment officials are aware of the oil slicks in the water, but don’t seem concerned.
“We were going down the lake and we saw oil and he said ‘Well, just because there’s oil doesn’t mean it’s necessarily dangerous,” he said.
Ministry officials may not have been at the meeting on Tuesday night, but they were in Gogama the following day to take water samples on Lake Minisinakwa.
In a statement, the ministry said it “takes the concerns expressed by the citizens of Gogama and Mattagami First Nation very seriously and greatly appreciates direct reports from the citizens of their observations. These reports enable our staff to respond in a timely manner to collect further information that can be used in guiding further action as appropriate.”
The ministry statement also said that further fish testing in the Gogama area is planned for the fall, but reiterated that the fish tested last fall showed no signs of contamination.
Gogama residents regularly see oil floating in the Makami River and other waters downstream from the oil spill. (Erik White/CBC )
Band councillor suggests a protest to shut down the railroad
CN officials had planned to attend the meeting, but were called away at the last minute.
After expressing their frustrations for over an hour, the crowd erupted in applause, when Chad Boissoneau suggested that one way to get attention would be to “shut down” the railroad with a protest.
He is a band councillor in the nearby Mattagami First Nation and has headed up efforts to keep up in the pickerel population in area lakes.
“The clean-up shouldn’t be determined by what MOE feels is satisfactory, the clean-up should be determined by the community members and what’s satisfactory to them. Because we’re the ones that have to live here,” says Boissoneau, adding that oil has yet to be sighted in the waters by the first nation, which is downstream from the spill.
Several people from Timmins, which draws its drinking water from the Mattagami River downstream from the spill, also attended the meeting and there was mention of how these waters run all the way to the James Bay Coast.
Over 100 people attended a public meeting at the Gogama Community Centre on Aug. 9 to express their frustrations with the oil clean-up. (Erik White/CBC )
Towards the end of the meeting there was talk of circulating a petition that Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas could table at Queen’s Park and including these downstream communities.
Gelinas said until now people in Gogama were always hesitant to draw too much attention to the oil spill, fearing it would hurt the local tourism industry. But many lodges are reporting a drop in business anyway.
“There was always this reluctance to talk about it too much outside of Gogama,” she says.
It’s hard to get Toronto politicians to care about a little town called Gogama
“If you’re ready to sound the alarm bells, I have no doubt that the people from Sudbury will support you, the people from Timmins will support you and the people from everywhere in Ontario will support you if you’re ready to reach out and speak loud.”
Gelinas said she too has had trouble getting government officials to give time to the concerns of a small town called Gogama.
“If this environmental disaster had happened closer to Toronto, things would have been handled very differently,” she said at the meeting.
Editorial, August 8, 2016 4:46pm
The governor’s sense of urgency is understandable — there are lots of threats to California’s climate change fight right now. Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press
Ten years after California passed AB32, our landmark law to fight climate change, the Legislature is being pushed to pass its successor. SB32, envisioned as the logical next step in California’s push, would set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below the 1990 level by 2030.
It should have been an easy ask.
AB32 hasn’t been perfect, but it’s helped to lower California’s emissions without negatively impacting its economy. In fact, the economy has grown — gross domestic product in 2015 was up 12.4 percent over 2006 — while petroleum and electricity consumption have both declined.
The state’s climate change battle is also highly popular with voters. In last month’s Public Policy Institute of California poll, 69 percent of Californians supported extending our climate change policies and aiming for the 2030 target.
But instead of responding with the pioneering spirit of their predecessors in the Legislature, current legislators are stuck in neutral.
SB32, authored by state Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills (Los Angeles County), was stalled in the Assembly last year, thanks to the lobbying efforts of the oil industry. Pavley revived the bill this year, but its prospects look increasingly dire.
There are just a few weeks left in the legislative session, and SB32 is again at risk in the state Assembly. Pavley has negotiated plenty of compromises on the bill (including dropping a longer-term 2050 goal), but it’s still not enough.
Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration is furiously trying to work out a deal behind the scenes.
The governor’s sense of urgency is understandable — there are lots of threats to California’s climate change fight right now, including a California Chamber of Commerce lawsuit that’s put the entire cap-and-trade auction program, the centerpiece of AB32, in jeopardy.
But the governor’s office needs to be careful to play the long game here. Doing otherwise could jeopardize the program in less expected, but no less crucial, ways.
Nancy McFadden, Brown’s executive secretary, raised the prospect of a ballot initiative if the Legislature doesn’t move on the governor’s climate change goals. In an Aug. 4 Twitter statement, McFadden said, “The governor will continue working with the Legislature to get this done this year, next year, or on the ballot in 2018.” That same day, Brown’s office filed papers with California’s secretary of state to launch an initiative drive for an as-yet undetailed “Californians for a Clean Environment” measure.
The governor’s temptation to run around an obstinate state Legislature and go directly to the voters is understandable, but it must be avoided.
Achieving climate change goals is a lengthy process with endless moving parts. The legislative process allows the state to adapt as conditions change; ballot measures etch regulations in stone.
With the cap-and-trade auction system in limbo, an inflexible ballot measure could be an especially dangerous solution to a complex problem. State lawmakers need to create certainty by passing SB32 now.
There’s a new push from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Company to derail the Spokane city council’s proposal to fine train companies for bringing oil or coal trains through the city.
You may have seen the ads from BNSF on Facebook or in the paper showing the company’s petition to block the plan. BNSF just started the campaign last week and they already have hundreds of signatures.
BNSF’s Courtney Wallace says the proposal is illegal and won’t solve future problems.
City council members say they’ve gotten a wave of emails from the petition. Council President Ben Stuckart says if BNSF really thinks the proposal is illegal, the company should challenge it to keep it off the ballot.
