A plume of smoke and soot was released from a flare stack at the Valero Benicia Refinery on March 26, as seen here in a photo taken in the Hillcrest neighborhood by Benicia resident and small business owner, Jamie Jang.

March 26 refinery injuries being investigated…

By Monica Vaughan, Excerpt from the Benicia Bridge Newsletter, April 10, 2026

NBC reported that two dozen workers went to the emergency room with burns when black liquid rained down on them for about five minutes from the flare stack incident on March 26. Cal-OSHA is investigating. A quick review of OSHA records show this is the second investigation into worker safety opened at the facility this year. Last year, Valero racked up at least 11 violations amounting to $80,000 in penalties for worker safety violations at the Benicia refinery. Valero is contesting the findings.

Read more about the April 7 City Council meeting, here:

Should Benicia invest to modernize the privately-owned port? Read here.
Fixing the city’s broken solar panels is pricey. Losing the power costs more. Read here.

Upcoming dates to know about:

April 14, 4:30 p.m.: Valero Community Advisory Panel (CAP) Meeting, 610 Industrial Way

April 15, 4 p.m.: Industrial Safety Citizen Oversight Commission. City Hall. Agenda here.

April 20: Registration for Benicia’s Summer recreation programs begins at 8 a.m. for residents. I hear there may be a rush on swim classes.

This newsletter was written by Monica Vaughan and edited by Laura López González. Feedback? Story idea? News tip? Reach us at news@thebeniciabridge.com.

Do you like The Benicia Bridge so far? Please consider forwarding this story to your friends, neighbors and community groups to grow our readership.

Story by Monica Vaughan of The Benicia Bridge.
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AMPORTS, Benicia City Council, City of Benicia, Port of Benicia

Benicia has a rare deep water port. Here’s what it would take to fix it

April 11, 2026 Roger Straw

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: THE BENICIA BRIDGE
The following excellent reporting comes from Benicia’s newest award-winning journalism duo, Monica Vaughan and Laura López González. Their online publication is The Benicia Bridge. Learn more and subscribe to the newsletter here. Note that the story below is a highly important delvelopment for Benicia – first hand reporting on current City Council business, missing since the departure of the Benicia Herald’s Donna Beth Weilenman in 2015! – Roger Straw

City Council receives 43-page report, ‘Port of Benicia – Facilities and Infrastructure Modernization Plan’

By Monica Vaughan, The Benicia Bridge, April 10, 2026

Benicia City Council learned about improvements needed to maintain the Port of Benicia, as well as potential work that could attract more seafaring customers – to the cost of $700 million.

Background: The City of Benicia received a $750,000 grant to develop a Port of Benicia Facilities and Infrastructure Modernization Plan. The consultant doing the work, GHD, presented parts of the plan to councilmembers at a city council meeting Tuesday. The grant came from regional government agencies, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments.

The main takeaways: The port and surrounding area need work to maintain operations into the near future, like structural improvements to the pier, stormwater infrastructure, and nearby roads and intersections used by truck traffic related to port activities.

Long-term work is needed to build up the seawall to protect against sea-level rise. And, there are opportunities to expand the pier to allow for additional moorings.

The total cost of all projects reviewed is around $700 million. The council may consider going after grants to help tackle some or all or none of the projects suggested.

Council members seemed dubious about investments, given that the port is privately owned and operated by AMPORTS. As Councilmember Trevor Macenski put it, “Would you spend $700 million on capital projects supporting an industry that doesn’t significantly benefit the city?”

Councilmember Kari Birdseye noted that AMPORTS is a big company in our community, but urged that work moving forward, especially grant opportunities, “has to benefit the larger community and not just one company in our city.”

The consultant suggested the city consider the benefits of a public/private partnership, and noted that other cities work hard to attract a company like AMPORTS to invest in infrastructure that could bring additional industry and revenue to the area.

“At least you have a partner with a revenue stream,” Vanderbeek said.

The reports provided, however, do not include market research or outreach to other potential customers who could bring business to the port.

Want to read more about it?

Vallejo Sun wrote a story: Benicia mulls $700M project to address sea level rise, expand and modernize port

Story by Monica Vaughan of The Benicia Bridge.
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Benicia City Council, City of Benicia, Solar energy

Benicia’s solar panels are broken. The fix is $480k

April 11, 2026 Roger Straw

A solar array by James Lemos pool provides shade and not much else until the system gets fixed. The City of Benicia owns 10 solar arrays that have fallen into disrepair. Photo by Monica Vaughan.

After “years of disrepair,” the City Council on Tuesday…

By Monica Vaughan, The Benicia Bridge, April 10, 2026

After “years of disrepair,” the City Council on Tuesday approved spending up to $1.6 million to fix and maintain the city’s aging solar panels for the next five years. There’s a caveat.

Background: The city has 10 solar arrays installed about 15 years ago to power a portion of city operations. Parts of the system have been broken for years, according to City Manager Mario Giuliani. The system of panels next to James Lemos Swim Center is completely down, for example. The only good they provide is shade until they’re fixed.

Giuliani stressed the need to get these fixed ASAP, saying “we’re losing money just from the four sites that are off.” Together, the system produces about $770,000 worth of electricity a year.

“By the way,” Giuliani said, City Hall, the Clock Tower and the Police Department building are on collateral for the loan to cover the cost of construction of the arrays back in 2011, which the city continues to pay off every year.

The details: Council members approved a five-year contract with Opterra Energy Services to fix and maintain the city’s 10 solar panel systems. The first year’s work for one-time repairs and upgrades to get the system operating again will cost $480,000. The remaining expenses are for annual maintenance and additional services, if needed. The original contract was for $1.6 million, but the council voted to send it back to the company with edits to reduce costs.

Points of discussion:

Councilmember Lionel Largeosparda worked to cut costs, earning him the title “our contract nerd,” by Mayor Steve Young. The nerd successfully argued that some of the built-in annual markups in the contract were too high, like a 15% markup on materials. He admitted to “splitting hairs and nitpicking.”Ultimately the council agreed with him on those points and they voted to empower the city manager to make those requests to the company and get the deal done. He also wanted to reduce a $150,000-per-year set-aside that allows staff to approve repairs without needing to return to council for approval.Giuliani fought back.

“The only reason I’m having this pushback is because, again, we’re trying to solve something that has been broken for years, and this is a vehicle to do that, so we don’t repeat the mistake of letting something get in such disrepair that it’s going to cost $480,000 in year one,” Giuliani said.

Mayor Steve Young questioned the bid process used to pick the contractor. Instead of publishing a “request for proposals” (RFP for bureaucrats in the know), the city used a third-party vendor, Omnia Partners, that released an RFP and did vetting in 2023. Kelly Ferguson with Opterra Energy made the case in person. “We are uniquely qualified for this contract because, actually, our predecessor company built the systems, and we have stockpiles of equipment, which obviously, now you can’t get on the market.”

Story by Monica Vaughan of The Benicia Bridge.
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Trump, War

Stephen Golub: Israel-US At War with Iran

April 5, 2026 BenIndy

“A Narcissistic, Deranged Individual”…We Can’t Analyze Trump and the Iran War as We Would a Normal Conflict with Normal Leaders…

WION April 4, 2026 Interview with Stephen Golub

About WION – The World is One News, examines global issues with in-depth analysis. We provide much more than the news of the day. Our aim to empower people to explore their world. With our Global headquarters in New Delhi, we bring you news on the hour, by the hour. We deliver information that is not biased. We are journalists who are neutral to the core and non-partisan when it comes to the politics of the world. People are tired of biased reportage and we stand for a globalised united world. So for us the World is truly One.

Benicia resident and author Stephen Golub, A Promised Land

Stephen Golub writes about democracy and politics, both in America and abroad, at A Promised Land: America as a Developing Country.

…and… here’s more Golub on the Benicia Independent