Category Archives: Progressive Democrats of Benicia

Air pollution, Air quality violations, Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), Benzene emissions, Keeping Watch on Earth News, Local Regulation, Progressive Democrats of Benicia, Valero Benicia Refinery

Save these dates for important meetings on Air District charges against Valero for continued air pollution violations

Email from Progressive Democrats of Benicia, February 21, 2022


The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) will have two important informational meetings to discuss the serious emissions violations incurred by the Valero Refinery.  BAAQMD sets and enforces air pollution regulations in the Bay Area. Valero’s violations included dangerous benzene emissions.

The first meeting is THIS THURSDAY, FEB 24, FROM 6 TO 8 PM. 

In the words of Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the Air District:

Valero’s disregard for air quality regulations and public safety in the surrounding community warrants decisive action and significant penalties to deter violations in the future. Valero did not report or control the emissions from this source as required by Air District regulations, state and federal law.

Please plan to attend the following Zoom meetings to get answers to your questions, find out more details about what has been released into our air, and learn how it could have affected the air quality in Benicia. What will be the consequences to the refinery for their negligent action? Show Valero and the Air District that we care and are prepared to take action to protect our community!!

At our last general membership meeting we announced a webinar for Benicia Community Air Monitoring System on the 24th. That has now been moved to March 3rd so you can attend these BAAQMD meetings, which we feel are vital for every member and supporter to join if they can, so we can make our voices heard on the matter of these violations, and demand Valero take important steps to regain the trust of our community. Please plan to attend!

 This Thursday, February 24, 6 to 8 pm
Air District staff are holding this meeting and will be present to discuss these violations in detail. Click on the link for more information: https://www.baaqmd.gov/news-and-events/workshops
 Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83974557503?pwd=Z2hDdTNxNitYV0h4cHgxOHR1eGtPUT09
Meeting ID: 839 7455 7503
Passcode: 808102
One tap mobile
+16699006833

Tuesday, March 1, 6 pm
Benicia City Council will address the Valero emission violations at their regular meeting. City council members have requested a briefing on the Valero case from Air District enforcement staff. This meeting is also open to the public. Please go to this page on the City of Benicia’s website for information on how to join.

Tuesday, March 15, 9:30 am
The second BAAQMD meeting is a legal hearing, where the Air District’s Hearing Board will consider approving the proposed abatement order. The public can view the agenda and provide written comment to the Hearing Board at the following link:
Hearing Board Agendas, Reports, and Orders (baaqmd.gov)
The public can also provide verbal comments to the Hearing Board during the hearing in the following ways:
 Join Zoom webinar:
https://bayareametro.zoom.us/j/88980571855
Webinar ID: 889 8057 1855
. . . or dial in remotely via phone at (669) 900-6833 or (408) 638-0968

 Please plan to attend one or all of these meetings, and thank you for supporting the health and safety of our community by taking action with us. Together, we will show Valero that no amount of cash they pump into our local elections will protect them from facing consequences for these very serious violations.

Kathy Kerridge, Int. Chair, Progressive Democrats of Benicia

See you there!

Kathy Kerridge
Interim Chair

 

350 Bay Area, Gas drilling, Keeping Watch on Earth News, Oil drilling, Progressive Democrats of Benicia, Take Action

ACTION ALERT – Support oil and gas drilling setbacks

ACTION ALERT

TAKE A STAND WITH PDB AND  350 BAY AREA ACTION
TO SUPPORT FRONTLINE COMMUNITIES
in demanding health and safety setbacks
from oil and gas drilling in California

SB 467, the Dirty Drilling Phase out and Setbacks bill, did not pass through the Natural Resources and Water Committee last week because it was ONE VOTE SHORT, but the fight is not over. 

The bill is now being amended to ensure that frontline communities are protected from toxic oil and gas drilling by requiring a 2,500 foot setback for the over 2 million Californians that live, work, go to school, and are cared for with oil and gas drilling right in their backyards.

Texas has setbacks—and CA does not. This harms mostly low-income and Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities. We have just a few days to get at least one vote to move this bill forward to protect the health and safety of our children, neighbors, friends, and workers from the oil and gas industry’s harmful practices. Here’s your chance to join the statewide VISÍON ALLIES Coalition and tell our lawmakers to do something for the health of Californians.

CALL THREE SENATORS NOW AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE 

The target is 1,000 calls to three Senators to urge them to vote YES when the amended bill comes back for a vote. 

Ralph Dennis, Benicia

Thank you for taking action today to secure the health and safety of vulnerable frontline communities. 

Ralph Dennis, Chair

California Assembly District 14, Democratic Party, Progressive Democrats of Benicia

TAKE ACTION TODAY! Our Democratic Party is electing delegates, deadline MONDAY, JANUARY 11

BenIndy Editor: The Benicia Independent most especially endorses Susannah Delano and Kari Birdseye!  Vote for all 10 – more below…

From Progressive Democrats of Benicia

CHOOSING OUR CA ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 14 DEMOCRATIC PARTY DELEGATES

YOU can help vote for a PROGRESSIVE SLATE to represent us! Details and HOW to vote…

WHAT DELEGATES DO: The Delegates we elect will vote for the officers of the California Democratic Party, as well as endorsements for legislative and statewide offices and ballot propositions.  In even numbered years the Delegates establish the party platform and weigh in each year on state resolutions.

The PDB Steering Committee recognizes that there has been a division within the Party between Progressives and Labor/corporate interests. In Solano County, the labor slate includes an offshoot of the Working Families PAC which spent nearly $300,000 in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat Steve Young in the race for Benicia Mayor.

This year, due to the Pandemic, the Democratic party is doing an all-mail ballot to elect delegates representing Assembly District 14 (Grayson).  We are urging you to go to the link [https://ademelections.com/?isCandidate=False] to request a ballot be mailed to you, and then consider supporting the Progressive slate, as listed below.

Your Steering Committee supports this group of Democratic Progressive Candidates who want to change the Democratic Party from the corporate and divisive politics of the past. The AD 14 Progressives for Change slate is asking for your vote in January 2021 to take the party into a more transparent, accountable, and inclusive future.

How to get a Party Ballot and VOTE…

Due to the pandemic, the California Democratic Party (CADEM) has implemented a vote by mail for the 2021 Assembly District 14 Elections.

  • Deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot is Monday January 11, 2021.
  • All voters must request a vote-by-mail ballot for this election at   https://ademelections.com/?isCandidate=False
  • All ballots must be received before Wednesday, January 27, 2021.

THE PROGRESSIVE SLATE

Please remember these names and vote for these 10 PROGRESSIVE candidates, AD 14 Progressives for Change:
…Thomas Bilbo https://www.facebook.com/ElectTomBilbo/
…Kari Birdseye https://www.facebook.com/kari.birdseye
…Ruscal Cayangyang https://www.facebook.com/ruscalcayangyang/
…Brenda Crawford https://www.facebook.com/ElectBrendaC/
…Susannah Delano https://www.facebook.com/SDforADEM
…Matthew Finkelstein facebook.com/MatthewFinkelstein4AD14/
…Susan George https://www.facebook.com/SusanGeorge4AD14/
…Leilani Quesada https://www.facebook.com/electleilaniquesada/
…Steve Sillen https://www.facebook.com/stevesillenad14/
…Phillip (Maui) Wilson https://www.facebook.com/MauiForAD14/

AD 14 Progressives 4 Change: https://www.facebook.com/AD14Progressives4Change

Watch the video: https://fb.watch/2sZ7qkFilC/

AND… please tell and email this information to your Democratic friends in District 14 (Benicia, Vallejo, Concord, Clayton, Martinez, Pittsburg [western portion], Pleasant Hill, Rodeo, and the northern part of Walnut Creek).

Anti-racism, Benicia Black Lives Matter, Progressive Democrats of Benicia, Racial justice, SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice)

INVITATION: Six-week study and action series on racial justice in Benicia

From Progressive Democrats of Benicia, December 2, 2020

Members and friends of PDB:

In Chief Erik Upson’s recent City of Benicia News update as Interim City Manager, he announced that the Benicia Library is partnering with Benicia Black Lives Matter and the Bay Area Chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) for a six-week series of classes on racial justice. This course is free to the public but classes are limited to 30 members for each of the two sessions available – one to be held on Tuesdays beginning Jan. 12, and a second session on Saturdays beginning Jan. 16. (See REGISTRATION, below.)

ABOUT SURJ AND THE STUDY/ACTION SERIES:

SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) Bay Area is part of a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people for racial justice. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, SURJ moves white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice, with passion and accountability.

SURJ Study & Action is a community of learners committed to examining the histories of white supremacy and resistance movements and building our abilities to effectively take action in support of Black and Brown-led organizations fighting for racial justice.

…We are responding to Black peoples’ long-standing call for white people, in large numbers, to talk, study and take action with each other so we can confront white supremacy in our workplaces, schools, with our families and throughout our lives.

Learning in community makes our movements strong. We train up, so we can show up!

FROM RALPH DENNIS, PDB CHAIR: I strongly recommend that white PDB members and friends look in a mirror and consider the benefits that attending these classes will provide. No matter how much we who are white think we are “aware of” and fight against racial prejudices and discrimination, and/or that “I’m not racist,” none of us can know how it feels to be black in a white-dominated culture. And, all of us need to acknowledge the history and systemic nature of racism in our country, and here in Benicia, and learn how to address it and become anti-racist in actions and deeds. These classes are a path towards beginning that journey in Benicia.

Here’s more information from Chief Upson and how to register for the classes.

Showing Up for Racial Justice – Study & Action Course

(From City of Benicia this week, Message from the Interim City Manager 11/30/20)

The Benicia Public Library and Benicia Black Lives Matter are teaming up to offer a free series of classes for the community, cosponsored by the Bay Area chapter of Stand Up for Racial Justice (SURJ).

Participants are asked to:

  • commit to attending all 6 sessions of this intensive program in order to hold accountability to the group, build community, and get the most out of the series;
  • allow enough time in your schedules to read the weekly assignments, about 2.5-4 hours per week;
  • commit to participating in at least 3 racial justice actions during the course of the Intensive. Facilitators will suggest actions to be a part of at each weekly meeting.

Two six session courses are available, one series held on Tuesdays beginning January 12 (registration deadline Dec. 29), the other held on Saturdays beginning January 16 (registration deadline Jan. 2). Please choose either Tuesdays or Saturdays. There are 30 spaces available in each series. All meetings are held on Zoom.

REGISTRATION

For Tuesday Classes: Register Online

For Saturday Classes: Register Online

Questions? Please contact Nancy.

More information is available at https://benicialibrary.org/standing-up-racial-justice.