On March 31, five environmental attorneys and a host of experts and others (including Benicians for a Safe and Healthy Community) sent the Benicia City Council this strong 3-page letter of opposition to Valero’s oil trains proposal. (For a much longer download, see the Letter with Attachments [13 MB, 214 pages].)
Attorney signatories:
- Jackie Prange, Staff Attorney for Natural Resources Defense Council;
- Roger Lin, Staff Attorney for Communities for a Better Environment;
- George Torgun, Managing Attorney for San Francisco Baykeeper;
- Clare Lakewood, Staff Attorney for Center for Biological Diversity;
- Elly Benson, Staff Attorney for Sierra Club.
Others signing the letter:
- Ethan Buckner, ForestEthics;
- Katherine Black, Benicians for a Safe and Healthy Community;
- Janet Johnson, Richmond Progressive Alliance;
- David McCoard, Sierra Club SF Bay Chapter;
- Jessica Hendricks, Global Community Monitor;
- Colin Miller, Bay Localize;
- Denny Larson, Community Science Institute;
- Nancy Rieser, Crockett-Rodeo United to Defend the Environment;
- Steve Nadel, Sunflower Alliance;
- Kalli Graham, Pittsburg Defense Council;
- Richard Gray, 350 Bay Area and 350 Marin;
- Bradley Angel, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice;
- Sandy Saeturn, Asian Pacific Environmental Network
SIGNIFICANT EXCERPT:
The City Council can, and must, uphold the Planning Commission’s unanimous decision to deny the use permit for the Valero crude-by-rail project. Federal law does not preempt the City from denying the permit for this project. Furthermore, the City should not tolerate Valero’ s delay tactic of seeking a declaratory order from the Surface Transportation Board (STB). As explained below, the STB does not have jurisdiction over this project and will almost certainly decline to hear Valero’ s petition for the very same reason that preemption does not apply. Finally, even if preemption were to apply here, the project’s on-site impacts, especially the increases in refinery pollution, require the City to deny the permit.