Category Archives: Bay Area Refineries

Benicia looking to adopt Industrial Safety Ordinance

Smoke from the Valero Benicia refinery during a 2017 incident. | Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

City has dealt with numerous venues, including Valero Refinery, which has been the site of numerous air pollution incidents

Vallejo-Times Herald, by Thomas Gase, February 1, 2025

Benicia citizens are ready to clear the air regarding an Industrial Safety Ordinance.

Tuesday’s Benicia City Council meeting is set to include a segment on the possible adoption of the ordinance. The Benicia Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance — a citizens group formed in 2023 with 250 supporters — is looking for a stronger ordinance to deal with venues like Valero Refinery, the site of numerous air pollution incidents.

“This is a critical meeting that will affect the future of our air quality for years to come,” said Terry Mollica, a member of the group Benicia Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance. “We need everyone in Benicia who cares about the air we breathe to show up at the city council to show support for stronger protections.”

Benicia is the only Bay Area refinery town to not yet have an Industrial Safety Ordinance. Community activists — including health and environmental advocates — have spent years calling for tighter regulations to protect citizens from dangerous industrial emissions impacting air quality and the health of residents.

The Valero Refinery has been the site of a series of air pollution incidents, including the recent revelation that a hydrogen vent at the refinery had been leaking 2.7 tons of toxics into the air for 15 years. That discovery resulted in an historic $84 million fine imposed by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District in 2024.

Inspectors reported that Valero management had known about the leaks for years, but failed to report them or take steps to mitigate the leak. The fine reportedly was the largest penalty ever assessed by the district.

“The Bay Area Air Quality Management District was formed by a group of concerned citizens to promote the adoption of an ISO to help the city regulate such emissions and reduce the risk of incidents,” Mollica said. “This most recent discovery and the secrecy surrounding the years-long leaks point out how important it is for Benicia to have a strong Industrial Safety Ordinance.”

Valero was one of four other refineries that in 2023 didn’t meet requirements as defined by BAAQMD and Rule 12-15.

Rule 12-15 — passed in 2016 — requires refineries to monitor and report fugitive gasses from their operating equipment, such as valves, compressors, and storage tanks. These emissions impact the health of the surrounding communities — the toxic gases released include noxious chemicals like the cancer-causing benzene.

After a trip to the refinery in 2023, Benicia Community Air Monitoring Program Board Member Kathy Kerridge said she was not surprised at the result. After all, it wasn’t the first time it had to pay up for emitting smoke or chemicals into the air. In April 2017, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District fined Valero $340,000 for 28 violations committed in 2014. A month later, they were hit with four additional violations — one for causing a public nuisance and three for releasing excessive smoke.

“Fines are trivial to them,” Kerridge said. “It’s like they are having a direct slap to the face with the community. The main problem is that the air monitoring gives us the sense of false security.”

Newly-elected council members Terry Scott and Kari Birdseye sponsored the adoption of an ordinance late in 2023. The council then voted unanimously to have staff study the issue and make a recommendation. Mayor Steve Young appointed Scott, Birdseye, Fire Chief Josh Chadwick and city staff to a subcommittee to draft an ordinance and to bring it before the city council.

Benicians took to the streets near City Park on Wednesday to protest the influence of the Valero Oil Refinery in the 2022 local election. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
Benicians took to the streets near City Park on Wednesday to protest the influence of the Valero Oil Refinery in the 2022 local election. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)

Since then, the subcommittee held public meetings to gain feedback from citizens and industrial groups including Valero, analyzed the data and drafted an ordinance.

Mollica also said that during those months, there have been ongoing negotiations between the city and Valero with the refinery displaying strong resistance.

In June 2019,  execution of the Benicia–Valero Cooperation Agreement addressed concerns raised by the council and the community regarding industrial safety with the Valero facility. While an agreement with the parties largely achieved its intended goals, several areas for improvement have been identified over the past five years with three significant concerns. Those concerns are:

  • Term: The agreement includes an expiration date, requiring the City to renegotiate an extension or a new agreement each time it expires.
  • Termination: The agreement contains a termination clause, allowing a party to potentially terminate the agreement at any time.
  • Enforcement: The agreement lacks clear enforcement provisions and does not specify consequences for non-compliance.

Since then more outreach was requested, including engaging with key stakeholders and subject matter experts. To achieve this, a subcommittee implemented a comprehensive public engagement strategy and created the website www.EngageBenicia.com for the public to share their thoughts, questions, and feedback. The site went live in March.

That same month, a public feedback survey was introduced on the website to gather quantitative data on public opinion regarding industrial safety in Benicia. Between March 25 and May 19, feedback was collected from 178 participants, according to a Benicia City Staff report.

The ordinance is now on its third draft, which was constructed last month. This newest draft incorporated significant revisions from the prior versions, with the most notable being a detailed legal analysis determining that various aspects of the previous versions included requirements that state law makes the responsibility of the the Solano County Certified Unified Program Agency.

The Valero Refinery in Benicia was one of four refineries in the SF Bay Area that did not meet air quality requirements for compliance with the Bay Area Quality Management District in 2023. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald file)
The Valero Refinery in Benicia was one of four refineries in the SF Bay Area that did not meet air quality requirements for compliance with the Bay Area Quality Management District in 2023. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald file)

The staff report also outlines industrial facilities subject to regulation under the ordinance. It specifies that the ordinance applies to any High Hazard Facility operating within the City of Benicia, as defined in Section 8.55.070. A “High-Hazard Facility” is classified as a “Group H” occupancy under the California Fire Code and encompasses buildings, structures, or portions thereof used for manufacturing, processing, generating, or storing materials that pose physical or health hazards in quantities exceeding the limits permitted in the California Fire Code.

While the current agreement is only between Benicia and Valero, the draft ordinance will regulate numerous other industrial facilities. Although the list of Group H high-hazard facilities in Benicia is not static, in 2023 it did list 13 businesses that were defined as Group H occupancies. Those are:

  • Valero Refinery (3400 E 2nd St)
  • Kaneka (6162 Egret Ct)
  • Ralph Pugh (3931 Oregon St)
  • Interstate Batteries (535 Getty Ct)
  • Amports (2050 Park Rd)
  • Cork Supply (531 Stone Rd)
  • Red Line Synthetic Oil (6100 Egret Ct)
  • Auto Chlor (515 Stone Rd)
  • Benicia Water Treatment Plant (100 Water Way)
  • Kwik Bond Polymers (923 Teal Dr)
  • Flavor Insights (4795 E Industrial Way)
  • Delta Tech Services (397 W Channel Rd)
  • Linde Inc (331 E Channel Rd)

The 2023 report also listed two other sites that are no longer operating in the city — Red Line Synthetic Oil and Auto Chlor.

The Tuesday meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at 250 East L Street in Benicia. It can be viewed via Zoom at us02web.zoom.us/j/88508047557?pwd=cHRsZlBrYlphU3pkODcycytmcFR2UT09. The phone number is 1 (669) 900-9128, while the Meeting ID is 885 0804 7557 and the password is 449303.

Refinery Air Watch Training Feb 2, 7 PM – get detailed data on Valero Benicia and other refineries

[Editor: Previously published – this is a tickler about the important upcoming webinar training this week. – R.S.]

Webinar: Introducing Refinery Air Watch: Radical Access to Fenceline Monitoring Data

Thursday, February 2, 7pm PST (zoom link)
Presented by the Fair Tech Collective

Air monitoring is happening at oil refinery fencelines. How can you get your hands on the data?

www.refineryairwatch.org

This one-hour webinar offers an introduction to Refinery Air Watch, (www.refineryairwatch.org), a new website that enables you to download results from fenceline air monitoring–and understand how refineries are making it hard for you to learn what’s in the air.

By the end of the session, you will be able to download data from the site and figure out what the data say about air quality at the fenceline. You will also understand where Refinery Air Watch’s data come from, what its strengths and limitations are, and what regulatory reforms are necessary to secure your right to know what you’re breathing.

Thursday, February 2, 7pm PST
Zoom link:  : Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

Fair Tech Collective, founded by Gwen Ottinger, believes that science and technology can empower communities—but...
Fair Tech Collective, founded by Gwen Ottinger, believes that science and technology can empower communities—but…

 

 

Refinery Air Watch – Webinar intro to new website showing detailed data on Valero Benicia and refineries across U.S.

Webinar: Introducing Refinery Air Watch: Radical Access to Fenceline Monitoring Data

Thursday, February 2, 7pm PST (zoom link)
Presented by the Fair Tech Collective

Air monitoring is happening at oil refinery fencelines. How can you get your hands on the data?

www.refineryairwatch.org

This one-hour webinar offers an introduction to Refinery Air Watch, (www.refineryairwatch.org), a new website that enables you to download results from fenceline air monitoring–and understand how refineries are making it hard for you to learn what’s in the air.

By the end of the session, you will be able to download data from the site and figure out what the data say about air quality at the fenceline. You will also understand where Refinery Air Watch’s data come from, what its strengths and limitations are, and what regulatory reforms are necessary to secure your right to know what you’re breathing.

Thursday, February 2, 7pm PST
Zoom link:  : Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

Fair Tech Collective, founded by Gwen Ottinger, believes that science and technology can empower communities—but...
Fair Tech Collective, founded by Gwen Ottinger, believes that science and technology can empower communities—but…

 

 

Refinery Air Watch – new website shows missing info on Valero Benicia and across U.S.

New Website Highlights Gaps in Communities’ Access to Air Quality Data 

https://www.refineryairwatch.org/

By email, November 16, 2022

“Refineries are being forced to measure toxic chemicals they release. But they still don’t want the people next door to know what they’re breathing,” said Dr. Gwen Ottinger, Associate Professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia. “That’s where Refinery Air Watch comes in.”

Launched this week, RefineryAirWatch.org is a project of Ottinger’s lab, the Fair Tech Collective, graphic design firm SAYGRID, and a coalition of residents from refinery-adjacent communities in the San Francisco Bay area.

>> The site lets users download air quality data that industry and government-run websites make hard to access. It calls out refineries that take measurements but don’t make them available for download by the public. And it exposes widespread failures by the oil industry to support communities’ right to know. Out of 116 refineries in the United States, only 12 measure chemical concentrations continuously or collect data about more than one pollutant.

“In our community,” Benicia, California resident Constance Beutel said, “We went 15 years with undisclosed toxic emissions from the Valero refinery. There was no monitoring in the community so we didn’t know how dangerous our air had become.”

Click image for Benicia details at RefineryAirWatch.org.

Beutel’s group, the Good Neighbor Steering Committee, eventually established the Benicia Community Air Monitoring Program, which measures hazardous pollutants at 5-minute intervals and has publicly available data. Getting the program going was incredibly significant for the community, Beutel said: “Without actual real-time data, we in the public are unaware of the health risks and dangers we live with daily. Having RefineryAirWatch.org as a resource for us and other communities is a huge step forward for the public.”

Refinery Air Watch makes data available for download. It also uses standardized measurements of benzene, required by the Environmental Protection Agency to be taken at refineries across the U.S., to show which refineries have the largest impact on neighbors, which states have the worst polluters, and which corporations are responsible. The site’s designer, Andee Mazzocco of SAYGRID, notes “we collected data from a federally mandated data dump and transformed it into meaningful information citizens can easily access and rely on.”

“This is an environmental justice issue,” said Ottinger. “Six million people live within three miles of an oil refinery, and they’re more likely than other Americans to be people of color, low income, or both. We know that toxic emissions from refineries are one more manifestation of structural racism. But we can’t understand the full extent of the problem if we’re not insisting that refineries measure their pollution and make the data readily available for communities, scientists, and investigative journalists to analyze. Refinery Air Watch sends the message that regulatory agencies need to drastically improve their requirements for air monitoring and data access.”

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