On the Fourth of July, Americans celebrate a rebellion.
To celebrate a rebellion means not to obey in advance, not to accept any of this as normal: not the lies told about the history by the people destroying our future, not the saccharine veneration of the Constitution by people who violate it every day, not the seizure of the mantle of revolution by a band of reactionary oligarchs. It is to be as courageous as you can: to speak the truth, to protect the elections we still have, and above all to organize in a great a joyful coalition.
History is not something that our oligarchs and fascists can take, try though they will today. History is what we make. It does not come to us. We come to it — with what we know, what we say, and what we do. Nothing in history dooms us; and nothing in history saves us. In the months between now and the next elections, there will be much forecasting, speculating, and worrying. None of that matters. All that matters is organizing a great and joyful coalition.
All that matters is the work. If my words are useful, if the beautiful reading here of my words is useful, it is only because those words bring you to act.
To celebrate a rebellion is to know that, from a flawed world, we can make new things. We can hold on, we can find each other, and not just imagine but create a much better America.
Joyful thanks to those who pronounced the lessons: Isabel Allende, Judd Apatow, Margaret Atwood, Joan Baez, Sophia Bush, Misha Collins, Kimberlè Crenshaw, Ted Danson, Ron Funches, Tony Goldwyn, Eric Holder, Jenifer Lewis, Leslie Odom Jr., Sarah Jessica Parker, Billy Porter, Maria Ressa, Lisa Rinna, Molly Ringwald, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Mark Ruffalo, J. Smith-Cameron, Holland Taylor, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Bradley Whitford.
The Benicia refinery has gone dark. Questions about what comes next will define our city for a generation.
The Valero Benicia Refinery in Benicia, Calif., on Thursday, June 5, 2014. As Benicia confronts refinery contamination and redevelopment, the Refinery Transparency Act would give local leaders access to cleanup and cost details. Manny Crisostomo Sacramento Bee file.
Last month, the Valero refinery in Benicia officially ceased refining fuel. For more than half a century, this refinery has defined our city’s skyline, provided jobs and anchored our tax base. For those of us who govern this community, the work of figuring out what comes next is just beginning — and we are doing it largely in the dark.
I know this firsthand: When Valero announced its intent to close last April, the news arrived swiftly and without warning. We have been scrambling ever since, trying to plan around the closure and figure out what our future looks like without the refinery.
That process has been extraordinarily difficult in an information vacuum. But that vacuum is not an accident: It is a choice that the oil and gas industry has made, and one that California law has (so far) allowed them to make.
But the California State Senate did the right thing this week in passing Senate Bill 1259, the Refinery Transparency Act.
Our residents breathed that pollution every day, and now, as Valero walks away from their mess, it is us alone who is left to reckon with whatever contamination remains in the soil and groundwater.
We are excited by the potential to redevelop the site in a way that diversifies our economy, but we do not have the luxury of decades to let the site’s future play out in slow motion while viable opportunities slip away. We need to begin coordinating with residents and Valero’s selected developer, Signature Development Group, now.
However, it is difficult to do so without hard information about what it will take to clean the site up: how long it will take, how it will happen and how much it will cost.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Other energy industries — solar, coal mines and nuclear — are required to create and fund cleanup plans before they close. Why are refineries the exception?
The very least these companies owe us on their way out is transparency.
This is exactly the problem that the Refinery Transparency Act is designed to solve. The bill, co-authored by senators Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, and Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, would provide that information to every local government in California if and when refineries close. It would ensure that refinery communities across the state can begin long-term planning for a diversified economy as oil refining inevitably diminishes over time.
For other communities across California with a refinery in their backyard, including Martinez and Richmond, this is vital information.
These are some of the most profitable corporations in the world. While Californians pay $6 a gallon at the pump amid the global oil shock driven by the war on Iran, big oil companies are making record profits.
Big Oil lobbyists have argued that requiring cleanup disclosures is too burdensome and costly for refiners and that bills like SB 1259 send a signal to the market that California wants its remaining refineries gone, accelerating closures. The Western States Petroleum Association has claimed the reporting requirements would impose new costs on their members. But this is a false narrative: Any company planning for an eventual business transition already tracks the financial obligations associated with that transition.
Refiners know what cleanup will cost them; SB 1259 simply requires them to share it.
What Big Oil is resisting is not the burden of calculating that information — miniscule against their profit margins — but the obligation of sharing it with the communities they are leaving behind.
The Benicia refinery has gone dark. The questions about what comes next will define our city for a generation. By passing SB 1259, California can give communities like mine a fighting chance to answer them.
Kari Birdseye is a member of the Benicia City Council.
This Juneteenth, Benicia Black Lives Matter, with co-sponsorship by the Benicia Public Library, the City’s V.I.B.E. Team, and Ethnic Notions Fine Art Gallery & Bookstore, will commemorate the holiday with a screening of John Burris: The Godfather of Police Litigation, a powerful documentary chronicling the 40-year career of civil rights attorney John Burris and his work confronting police misconduct. Produced by Doug Harris, the film highlights landmark cases including Rodney King, Oscar Grant, and the Oakland Riders scandal.
The program will begin with an introduction to situate the documentary within a broader historical context, examining policing practices from the late 19th century—particularly as slave patrols survelled, chased and detained runaway and newly freed slaves both prior to and after their enfranchisement as citizens—through to modern reforms such as the Racial Identity and Profiling Act (RIPA). The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Burris, offering attendees an opportunity for deeper engagement and dialogue.
The potential permanent closure and redevelopment of the Valero Refinery site could prove to be one of the most significant events in the future of Benicia. The 900+ acre site is being planned for redevelopment by Signature Development Group on behalf of Valero. Signature Development’s founder, Mike Ghielmetti, and his colleague, Jonathan Fearn, will explain the general aim of the redevelopment plan, the timeline and the challenges and opportunities presented. There will be time set aside for questions following the presentation.
THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 6:30 P.M.
In Person Meeting
DONA BENICIA ROOM OF THE BENICIA PUBLIC LIBRARY The meeting will begin at 6:30 for a social half hour with the program starting at 7 p.m. More about Progressive Democrats of Benicia
You must be logged in to post a comment.