STATEMENT: Benicia Planning Commission Rejects Valero Oil Train Terminal

Repost from ForestEthics (joint statement with Benicians for a Safe and Healthy Community)

Statement: Benicia Planning Commission Rejects Valero Oil Train Terminal

Friday Feb 12, 2016, Contact: Eddie Scher, 415-815-7027
[Benicia, CA] Late last night the Benicia Planning Commission voted unanimously to deny the land use permit for the proposed Valero oil train terminal. Valero can appeal the decision to the Benicia City Council.

Citizen groups Benicians for a Safe and Healthy Community and ForestEthics released the following statements:

“The unanimous vote by the Planning Commission to reject this deeply flawed environmental review is a vindication of the concerns that people in the community have had since this project was first proposed. It took three years of work in the community to build public pressure. The Planning Commission was thorough and methodological in their deliberation. The message to the city council is absolutely clear – they must reject this proposal and reevaluate how much trust they can put in their own staff and city attorney.”

– Andres Soto, Benicians for a Safe and Healthy Community

“In four days of hearings commissioners faced unrelenting pressure from Big Oil and Big Rail, and a city attorney and city staff who reminded the commission again and again that Valero’s tax contributions make up a quarter of the general fund. But last night, in a powerful display of democratic and thoughtful local governance, commissioner after commissioner ripped apart the Valero’s faulty environmental review and questioned the motives of city staff and the Benicia city attorney. Commissioners affirmed the actual charge of their commission to protect the health and welfare of the community.”

-Ethan Buckner, campaigner, ForestEthics