Fire crews were sent to fight flames and an apparent explosion at the Martinez Refining Company near Shell Avenue and Marina Vista Avenue. | Mercury News.
Rick Hurd from the Bay Area News Group reported to The Mercury News that the Martinez Refinery Company confirmed that the refinery had been evacuated and all refinery personnel are accounted for. Hurd also noted witnesses reporting “uncontrolled flames” shooting at least 200 feet in the air, with billowing black smoke moving east. Reports of at least one explosion have not been confirmed.
The company has reported the incident as a Level 2 notification — which include a hazardous materials release or potential release that is expected to have “off-site consequences and possibly adverse health consequences.”
This post has been updated to reflect new information.
(From BenIndy contributor Roger Straw: Professor Eddie Glaude is a favorite author and one of my heros. His clarity on issues of U.S. history and culture and the reality of longstanding and pervasive racism in the U.S. is inspiring and challenging – and dead on righteous and true. Listen to his recent interview…and note my transcription below.)
White nationalist agenda: Professor slams Trump’s racist, sexist DEI comments
Chris Jansing Reports, MSNBC on YouTube: Professor Eddie Glaude interview 31 Jan 2025
Partial transcript, by Roger Straw, Benicia Independent, Professor Eddie Glaude on 31 Jan 2025:
1:24
It’s important for us to take Donald Trump at his word. There is no evidence to suggest that diversity had anything to do with the loss of 67 people. And what you see, in no uncertain terms, is the way DEI is being used for a white Christian Nationalist agenda. This had nothing to do with merit. This has everything to do, to my mind – because yesterday revealed it – because there’s no evidence to correlate these two considerations. He’s not interested in merit. The assumption is, that if you have women, if you have black people or brown people, if you have a diverse workforce, that by definition, the standards have been compromised. That is a racist, a sexist view.
So what does it mean, Chris, that people are taking this seriously? If we understand it for what it is, an item in a white Christian Nationalist agenda, and you see businesses and government following suit, what are we to conclude? So I think yesterday was quite revealing, and the policies and the decisions that are being made now are as revealing as well.
3:08
I mean, how many McKinsey reports do we have to cite about the value and the power of a diverse workforce? Of a diverse leadership team? So we know that’s the truth. We know that’s to be the case. So what we’re seeing here, or witnessing here, is the capitulation to a white Nationalist agenda. And I want to stop dancing around this, Chris. We need to understand what we are confronting. We need to understand what the tattoos mean on Pete Hegseth. We need to understand what this particular decision is actually revealing. CRT, DEI, ‘woke’ – all of this is aimed at cultivating and stoking white grievance. And if we keep dancing around it, and keep capitulating to it, we’re going to find ourselves, shall we say, harkening back to the days where people like me supposedly knew our place – and people like you, Chris.
6:04
We have to be clear about our values. We have to be clear about who we believe ourselves to be. What is the nature of the America that he’s putting forward? What does it mean that for a large number of our fellows, that we have to endure this sort of view? Right? And what are its implications for the very way in which this country goes about its business? I mean, we are barreling towards the 250th anniversary of the nation. And here we are, grappling with the contradiction that has haunted this place since its founding. We have a president who believes that this country must be a white nation in the vein of old Europe. He talks about immigration, Chris, but we know birthright citizenship has nothing to do with the “crisis at the border” (quote unquote). It has everything to do with great replacement theory. We have to start being honest with what’s in front of us. Because if we’re not being honest, we’re being complicit. And so we’ve got to get clear about the values that animate the very country we claim to be so committed to.
We also heard from Patricia Schmidt Hunter, president of the Vallejo chapter of the NAACP (1:12:27),
And enjoyed a pickup choir singing Deborah Shanks’ new arrangement of Charles Albert Tinley’s song of courage and hope, “The Storm Is Passing Over” (1:21:50).
Benicia High School seniors Jaden Bleasdale and Vaughn McDevitt gave a generational voice to Dr. King’s words of challenge (1:25:49).
And in closing: Courage in Challenging Times, “We Shall Overcome”
It was notable that the 2025 national holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fell on the same day as the U.S.’ 47th Presidential Inauguration. See introductory comments by the Rev. Dr. Mary Susan Gast at minute 48:31.
Many in attendance reported coming with strong emotions of fear and anxiety over the coming 4 years – and leaving with a renewed sense of community, solidarity and hope. The celebration closed with a forceful statement led by our host and event coordinator, Rev. Mary Susan Gast (1:28:47): “A simple but powerful phrase came into use in Brasil by those acting for the social good and opposing the Bolsonaro regime. En portugues: ninguém solta a mão de ninguém. ‘No one let go of anyone’s hand.’ An idea of solidarity, that we are committed to stick together, that, together, we shall overcome.”
On this note and to end our time together, we all joined hands and sang “We Shall Overcome” (1:30:16).
>> Announcement for the event, posted here on 16 Jan 2025:
BENICIA COMMUNITY MLK DAY CELEBRATION
Monday, January 20, 2025 7 pm • 1305 West 2nd St.
Honoring Dr. King in story, recollection, song, and commitment. All are welcome.
“In these turbulent days, when fear and doubt are mounting high, give us broad visions, penetrating eyes and power of endurance.”
On Monday, January 20, 2025 Benicia’s 6th public observance of Martin Luther King Day will be held at 7 p.m. at Community Congregational UCC, 1305 West 2nd St. All who attend will be encouraged to reflect, sing together, and share their particular reasons for honoring Dr. King “in these turbulent days.” In this way we will sustain one another with the “power of endurance.”
Acclaimed storyteller Linda Youngblood Wright will portray Coretta Scott King, lifting up Dr. King’s insights into turbulent days and the ongoing struggle for justice. Local civic leaders, including Mayor Steve Young and Superintendent of Benicia Unified Schools, Dr. Damon Wright, will offer context and vision for the days ahead, along with Vallejo NAACP President Patricia Schmidt Hunter, Civil Rights attorney Brandon Greene, and others.
A pick-up choir will get together at 6 p.m. to rehearse “The Storm Is Passing Over” before singing it at the program. Email msgast45@gmail.com to request an advance copy of the music.
Valero’s Benicia Refinery, located near homes, schools, and parks, has placed – and will continue to place – residents at risk during dangerous incidents or regulatory violations. Despite years of accidental spills and emissions as well as many documented violations (some egregious), Valero has maintained its historic hostility to both citizen- and City-led proposals for local oversight. | Bay Area Air Quality Management District.Benicia resident and author Stephen Golub.
By Stephen Golub, January 26, 2025
On Tuesday, February 4, we can help protect Benicia’s kids and grandkids and all the rest of us by attending the 6 pm City Council meeting, in person or via Zoom, to show support for the draft Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO) that the Council will soon vote on. The measure can reduce the risks of toxic emissions, fires and explosions at the Valero Refinery and other covered businesses. You can supplement your attendance by emailing your support to Mayor Steve Young, Vice Mayor Trevor Macenski and Council Members Kari Birdseye, Lionel Largaespada and Terry Scott, at
Imagine you had a neighbor who had a backyard business that they repeatedly said was safe. But lo and behold, you found out that for many years the business had emitted toxic fumes dangerous to the health of your kids and grandkids and yourself.
What’s more, this was by no means the only such hazardous action by them. And some such actions also pose the risk of fire and explosions.
After all this, the neighbor sends a letter that could be seen as a threat to sue you if you seek firmer guarantees than a supposed safety-enhancing understanding you two had, which in fact had failed to ensure safety from their fumes. And folks affiliated with them reject initial attempts to discuss such guarantees. (But the neighbor does buy your kids little league uniforms as a gesture of goodwill.)
Would you feel safe? Would you want more assurance to protect the kids from toxic fumes, fires and explosions?
That’s pretty much the choice Benicia faces. On February 4, the City Council will start to consider the ISO. The measure requires that the Valero Refinery and other potentially dangerous businesses provide us with more information about their operations and accidents, information that could protect our kids and all of us from dangerous emissions and potential fires and explosions.
This should be a no-brainer. Drafted with great dedication and diligence by Council Members Birdseye and Scott as well as Fire Chief Chadwick and other personnel, the ISO gives Benicia a seat at the table in knowing what’s going on.
This in turn helps prevent dangerous events. If we’d had such a seat for the past 20 years, we might have avoided 15-plus years of Valero spewing toxic emissions hundreds of times the legal limits into our air, as well as some of the numerous other violations it committed.
The need for the ISO has increased greatly recently. With a new administration in DC backed by fossil fuel industry interests, the federal Environmental Protection Agency will almost certainly reduce its crucial role in protecting our health and safety.
Right now, all we have with Valero is a Memorandum of Understanding that the corporation can walk away from pretty easily.
The ISO would instead be binding on and paid for by Valero and other covered businesses.
All other refinery-hosting communities in the Bay Area have such ISOs; we’re merely seeking the same sort of prevention and protection for our health and safety.
As I’ve said before, I greatly respect our valued neighbors and friends who work or worked hard at the refinery. But Valero’s Texas headquarters calls the shots. We’re the ones who suffer if something goes wrong, not those San Antonio-based executives.
The threat of emissions, fires and explosions may seem far away. Many LA residents had similar thoughts before firestorms raced through their communities. Unlike them, we can take a specific step – the ISO – to reduce risks.
By showing up at the February 4 meeting and emailing our City Council members, we can help preserve this wonderful town that we love.
Speaking of the Council, it’s time for these dedicated public servants to stand up together for Benicians’ health and safety.
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