VIDEO: City Council directs Benicia City Staff to file a response to Valero’s petition to STB

By Roger Straw, June 8, 2016
(Be sure to scroll down for two videos: the 45 minute Council discussion, and a segment of the same video: 20 minutes of public comment.)

Benicia City Staff receives Council authority to hire an outside attorney to file a response to Valero’s petition to STB

On June 2, 2016, the Benicia City staff released a 5-page report to City Council for Council’s June 7 meeting. In the report, staff asked Council to “provide direction on whether to file a response to Valero’s petition to the Surface Transportation Board related to the crude by rail project and preemption.”

On June 7, City Council received the report and (if I understand correctly) directed staff to hire an outside attorney to file with the STB, and to consider additional attorney candidates other than those mentioned in the report.

The Benicia Herald reported on the Council’s June 7 meeting here. Minutes for the June 7 meeting are not available as of this writing. A video of the Council’s 45-minute STB/attorney discussion is available below.

The following video shows only the 20 minute PUBLIC COMMENT portion of the video above:

For more on Valero’s appeal, including its petition to the STB, go to our Project Documents page.  For public comments on the appeal and the petition, go to our Project Review page.