Crude By Rail, Keeping Watch on Earth News, Mexico, Oil trains, Texas, Valero Crude By Rail, Valero Energy Corporation

Huge Valero crude by rail expansion – Texas to Mexico

February 5, 2020 Roger Straw

Dangerous oil trains moving along Texas gulf coastline – 30,000 barrels per day

Crude Summit: Valero grows Mexico rail flows

By Sergio Meana & Elliot Blackburn, Argus Media, 04 February 2020

Valero increased the volume of refined products sent by rail to Mexico last year to roughly 30,000 b/d, up from about 2,000 b/d just two years ago, chief executive Joe Gorder said today.

The US independent refiner reached into the recently-opened Mexican market through a combination of joint ventures with local partners and building out its own storage infrastructure, Gorder said during the Argus Americas Crude Summit in Houston, Texas. Valero railed gasoline and diesel from its Texas refineries, including four along the coast and its landlocked 200,000 b/d McKee refinery in the Texas Panhandle.

The company has six fuel storage agreements that give the company 5.8mn bl of storage capacity in Mexico, but fuel pipeline capacity is still constrained in the country and mostly only used by state-owned Pemex.

“We invested in some terminal assets,” Gorder said. “We have got joint ventures around several, and we are actually railing a lot of barrels into Mexico rather than waiting for the pipeline infrastructure to be built.”

Franchisees opened the first Valero-branded retail fuel station in Mexico last week, Gorder said, with two more now opened since. Valero in Mexico said it plans to open 15 retail fuel stations in the next three months.

For Gorder the US Gulf coast is the most efficient refined product center as it has an able and affordable workforce, access to feedstocks and multiple transportation options.

“We have got all the advantages to be a supplier to the world,” Gorder said. “It is going to be some time before [Mexico] will be able to satisfy their own demands if ever. And so it is a logical, natural market for us.”

Valero exported 343,000 b/d of fuels in 2019 to all markets.

Benicia CA, NorCal Rapist

Sacramento judge: Benicia Suspect in NorCal Rapist case to go to trial

February 5, 2020 Roger Straw

By Vicki Gonzalez, KCRA TV3, 6:30 PM PST Jan 29, 2020

Former Benicia resident Roy Charles Waller, suspected NorCal Rapist

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —A man accused of being the so-called NorCal Rapist was ordered Wednesday to face trial on charges that he assaulted at least nine women in their homes, sometimes for hours.

Roy Charles Waller is facing dozens of felony charges — including rape and kidnapping — over a 15-year period between 1991 and 2006.

The judge ruled there was enough evidence presented during the preliminary hearings to try Waller. If convicted, Waller faces up to life in prison.

The 60-year-old, a former UC Berkeley employee living in Benicia, is facing 46 charges. The charges involve at least nine women across six counties — Sonoma, Contra Costa, Solano, Butte, Yolo and Sacramento.

Waller was arrested in September 2018, more than a decade after the NorCal Rapist’s most recent crime because of advancements in DNA technology. Those advancements also led to the arrest of Joseph DeAngelo in the East Area Rapist case.

Prosecutors said DNA from a drinking straw connected Waller to eight of the women — and a connection to the ninth came from a surveillance photo allegedly showing Waller using the woman’s ATM card.

Prosecutors argue the assaults had a similar M.O. The women were mostly of Asian descent, tied to the bed with their eyes taped shut. The assaults would take place over the course of hours, and the rapist often would caress, kiss and cuddle the bound women.

He would also steal valuables, like jewelry or an ATM card, before leaving, prosecutors said.

The focus in court Wednesday was granular. The defense and prosecutors argued over nuances of lesser charges or special circumstances, such as kidnapping and extortion, because laws surrounding the charges were amended over the time period of these crimes.

“He is innocent unless the DA can prove to 12 citizens of our community that in fact he committed his crimes,” Waller’s attorney Joseph Farina said. “There’s still lots to do in this case. We’re really at the beginning. There is so much discovery, so many police reports, so much evidence.”

“There is still a lot of work to do,” Farina added. “We’re not prepared to go to trial at this point.”

Waller pleaded not guilty and is being held on no bail.

Benicia Herald, Martinez News-Gazette, News deserts

UPDATE: Martinez News-Gazette publishing one print edition weekly

February 4, 2020 Roger Straw

By Roger Straw, February 4, 2020

Announcement from p. 3 of the January 12, 2020 edition of the Martinez News-Gazette

The news is still a bit sketchy, but today I heard from Nick Sestanovich, former editor of the Benicia Herald, commenting on my story yesterday, “News of the death of Martinez News-Gazette was premature…”

Nick pointed out that the editor of the Martinez News-Gazette “was able to find another company to continue publishing the paper as a weekly.”

P. 1 of the January 12, 2020 edition of the Martinez News-Gazette

The print edition is a full color Sunday paper, and it looks great! Here’s an online pictorial copy of the Sunday, January 12 edition. The announcement on page 3 goes like this: “Martinez News-Gazette Continues! PCM Publishing LLC, owner of The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle along with Rick Jones, editor of the Martinez News-Gazette for the past six years announce the continuation of the Martinez News-Gazette. In the upcoming weeks look for a new, full-color edition of the Gazette to be published weekly. We will continue to provide the best hyper-local news coverage in Martinez.”

P. 1 of the January 19, 2020 edition of the Martinez News-Gazette

It’s something of a sleuth job to discover other online versions of the print publication. I was able to locate the January 19 edition at martinezgazette.com/martinez-news-gazette-jan-19-2020, but subsequent editions either didn’t get posted online, or they are following some other URL protocol.

The new owner (or co-owner along with Rick Jones?) is PCM Publishing. I’m not sure, but pcm.com might be the company in question.

HERE IN BENICIA… we are hopeful that if and when Benicia Herald owner (and former owner of the Martinez News-Gazette) David Payne realizes that his 121-year-old Benicia treasure has – for several years now – hit rock bottom, he is able to find a backer and sell, so that Benicia continues to have a local newspaper, and a more vibrant one at that.

Benicia City Council, Benicia Climate Action Plan, Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, Climate emergency

Benicia City Council to consider Climate Emergency Resolution Tues, Feb 4, 4pm

February 2, 2020 Roger Straw

Quarterly Study Session to discuss five requests made by Council members

You may want to attend! Benicia’s City Council will meet with staff and the public on Wednesday, to consider five action items requested previously, in context of overall Council priorities. See complete list with links more below.

Of particular interest will be item 4, “Two-Step Request from Mayor Patterson on adopting a Climate Emergency Resolution“. Mayor Patterson submitted this request last summer, with a requested Initial Council Meeting date of July 16, 2019. The “Emergency” request was not brought for Council’s First Step consideration until September 3, 2019. At that meeting, after hearing support from residents Constance Beutel, Marilyn Bardet, Gretchen Burgess, Steve Goetz, Pat Toth-Smith and Kathy Kerridge, Council discussed the request and recommended that it be brought forward for further study “at a future workshop”. (see item 14.B in the 9/3/19 minutes). So that next step is this Tuesday.

(Editor’s note: I am not sure, but my review of the Staff Report and Rules of Procedure seem to suggest that Tuesday’s Study Workshop is NOT to be considered the Second Step in our Two-Step procedure. A Council member’s request for DISCUSSION and action on a City “policy matter” requires two yes votes at Council.)

For more on Climate Emergency, including background on Benicia’s consideration, see Benicia Independent on climate emergency. Also see Mayor Patterson’s highly informative E-Alert from September 4, 2019.

From the 1/4/2020 agenda on the City website:

10.A – QUARTERLY POLICY ISSUES STUDY SESSION (City Manager)

The City Council has agreed to discuss various “Two-Step” requests made by individual members of the City Council at the Quarterly Policy Issues Study Session described in the City Council Rules of Procedure (Attachment 1).

To assist with Council deliberations, staff has included an updated copy of the Council’s priorities for the current fiscal year as summarized in the Work Plan 2019-20 (Attachment 2).

Five topics have been approved by the Council for further discussion and are presented in this report (Attachments 3-7); they follow:

1. Penalties for Excessive Residential Water Use;
2. Adoption of a Climate Emergency Resolution;
3. Preparation of an Advisory Measure related to Cannabis Dispensaries for the November 2020 ballot;
4. Installation of Rainbow Crosswalks; and
5. A request to Repurpose and Update the Traffic, Bicycle & Pedestrian Safety Committee.

Recommendation: Review the two-step process and the updated Work Plan 2019-20, and then discuss each of the five topics described (Attachments 3-7) and provide direction to staff.

Staff Report – Quarterly Policy Issues Study Session