Islands of Hope

By Stephen Golub, Benicia resident and author, “Benicia and Beyond” column in the Benicia Herald, April 6, 2025

The  waves of national bad news just keep on coming. But there are certain islands of sanity and hope in our political seas.

Some of it started on April 1 – no fooling! In Wisconsin, Democrat Susan Crawford beat her conservative opponent for the swing seat on the state’s Supreme Court by 10 points, despite Elon Musk and his minions pouring over $21 million into trying to defeat her. Also consider that day’s congressional  special election results in Florida: In two deep Red districts, the Republican margin of victory collapsed compared to November – from over 30 percent to less than half of that.

And of course, there were the April 5 pro-democracy/anti-Trump protests in over 1,200 U.S. cities, as well as across Europe.

Then there’s the island of waterside sanity and beauty otherwise known as Benicia. Capping a struggle that stretches back nearly a decade  and most recently entailed eighteen months of arduous efforts by Council Members Kari Birdseye and Terry Scott and Fire Chief Josh Chadwick, on April 1 the City Council unanimously approved an industrial safety ordinance (ISO).

By seeking greater accountability and transparency from the Valero Refinery and other local facilities handling hazardous materials, the ISO helps protect the health and safety of our kids, our seniors and all of us. It also ends Benicia’s odd situation as the only Bay Area refinery-hosting community that lacked such an ordinance.

The April 1 Council meeting featured dozens of ISO supporters in attendance and salient points highlighted by several of them. For instance, a Benicia-based doctor/medical professor noted the relatively high cancer and childhood asthma rates in Benicia and refinery-hosting communities elsewhere. He was careful to avoid blaming Valero in the absence of conclusive data, but voiced hope that an effective ISO could help protect Benicians’ health.

In addition, Birdseye passionately and persuasively pushed back on Mayor Steve Young’s suggestion that the Fire Chief’s examination of potential ISO fees for Valero and other covered facilities focus on recovering just 85 percent of costs. For his part, Scott eloquently articulated the reality that, even with the passage of the ISO, the fight isn’t necessarily over.

But for now, our small city’s struggle for an ISO – a fight that it once seemed we could not win – provides an invaluable lesson: Yes We Can.

So thanks to Birdseye, Scott, Young and in fact the entire Council for that unanimous pro-ISO vote. And thanks to current and former Valero employees, even if we disagree with them, for being good friends and neighbors; once again, the ISO fight is not with you, but with the Texas-based oil giant.

But speaking of that fight…

What is Valero Afraid of?

Over the past decade or so, Valero has dumped millions of dollars into political action committees and public relations efforts seeking to defeat City Council candidates who might support an ISO or otherwise stymy that kind of City oversight. Ironically, that  same money could have instead more constructively covered years of the refinery’s costs for abiding by an ISO, had one been adopted earlier.

Most recently, and to put the point mildly, Valero failed to constructively engage with the City’s efforts to seek its cooperation in crafting the ordinance. And it reportedly may pursue a lawsuit seeking to block the new law.

Why such strong opposition to such a modest measure?

After all, the ISO simply seeks to ensure that the City has the necessary information about Valero’s (and other covered facilities’) operations, incidents, violations and accidents, in order to help protect Benicians’ health and safety. This would be a distinct departure from the recent 15-year period during which the refinery spewed toxic emissions hundreds of times the legal limits into our air without notifying us.

Furthermore, over the past year the original draft ISO was modified in ways making it more amenable to Valero, so that the planned Oversight Commission facilitating the law’s implementation and public information does not have enforcement powers. And again, every other Bay Area refinery operates under the rubric of such an ordinance. So why can’t Valero?

I hope that Texas-based Valero will see fit to forego a lawsuit against the City, and instead strive  to be a good neighbor rather than in effect imposing punitive legal fees as we defend ourselves. But if it does launch litigation, I hope and expect that its current and former officials, managers and workers will be required to testify under oath about its operations, incidents, accidents and violations, not just in Benicia but across America. If it’s going to fight this common-sense measure so strenuously, we need to better understand what’s going on in the refinery to spark such ferocity and further necessitate the ISO.

I also hope that there’s no need to try to make Goliath suing David a national story, and that Benicia need not engage with other community, legal and environmental groups concerned about Valero’s violations and accidents across the country. In the absence of a lawsuit, I’d assume no one wants to pick such a fight.

As I’ve previously pointed out, even the very conservative Attorney General of Texas, one of the most oil-friendly states in the nation, saw fit to sue Valero in 2019 for years of serious, repeated violations – transgressions that had continued despite previous enforcement actions by Texas and federal authorities.

Though it would be naïve to consider the Texas AG a potential ally, even a quick perusal of the company’s track record turns up alarming Valero accidents spanning several U.S. locales. For instance, an  environmental/personal injury law firm is looking into fires at two separate Valero Texas refineries earlier this year. Similarly, in 2021 a massive fire at its Memphis refinery spewed oil onto the ground and into a stream, as well as thousands of pounds of toxic gas into the air. There could thus be ample room for joining forces with other concerned communities if necessary.

Though I’m a lawyer, I’m neither a litigator nor PR expert. But people who understand those fields far better than I do have explained that there are strong cases to be made in courtrooms and the court of public information if necessary.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

Instead of suing, be a good neighbor, Valero. That’s basically all that Benicia’s new ISO asks.