By the Benicia Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance
citizens group (BISHO)
Benicia, CA (March 28, 2025) – On Tuesday, April 1, Benicia City Council will meet to discuss and conduct its final vote on the draft Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO) that will help protect Benicians against potential fires, explosions and toxic emissions connected to the Valero Refinery and other facilities. The meeting will be at Benicia City Hall, 230 East L Street, Benicia, beginning at 6 p.m.
“Because this is the final up-or-down vote on the ISO, we are urging supporters to attend to show support, either in person or by Zoom,” said Terry Mollica, a member of Benicia Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance (BISHO), a citizens group formed in 2023 to advocate for the passage of a strong Benicia Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance. “This is our last, best chance to establish an ISO that will get Benicia a seat at the table to protect the health and safety of our kids, our seniors and everyone else in our wonderful city.” BISHO has more than 250 supporters, with membership and website visits growing as more refinery incidents occur. Benicia is the only Bay Area refinery town without an ISO.
Benicia City Council voted in January 2023 to begin the process of developing a draft ISO to ultimately be presented to City Council for vote. Since that time, a City Council subcommittee, led by Council Members Terry Scott and Kari Birdseye and Fire Chief Josh Chadwick, have conducted multiple meetings with stakeholders, citizens, experts in industrial emissions, environmental groups, other Bay Area refinery cities and many others to gain feedback as to the best ISO for Benicia.
On March 4, City staff, led by Chief Chadwick, presented the draft ISO to Council and the public. After presentations by many community members, Valero and other industrial organizations to be affected by the ISO, Council voted unanimously to move forward with the draft, calling for a second reading and final vote.
“Our citizens group is thrilled that the ISO is close to becoming a reality,” said Mollica. “Along with local health and environmental advocates, we have spent years calling for tighter regulations to protect citizens from dangerous industrial emissions that impact air quality and the health of Benicians. We are finally near the finish line and are so grateful that City Council has supported this effort.”
By Stephen Golub, Benicia resident and author, “Benicia and Beyond” column in the Benicia Herald, Mar 23, 2025
My wife and I recently returned from a vacation in Australia, a land of beautiful beaches, other natural splendors, kangaroos galore and remarkably friendly people concerned about what America’s current course means for their country.
From Worries to Outrage to Sorrow
Chats with friends and other folks we met Down Under, along with glimpses of Australia’s national news, illuminated a lengthy list of worries in a land where “No worries” is a favorite catchphrase.
The lead TV news story one night was how Trump’s tariffs would hurt Australia’s crucial steel and aluminum exports. Arguments over how to handle him loom large in its national elections this spring.
His televised Oval Office confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy triggered considerable press coverage and doubts about America’s reliability: Australian “officials, politicians and diplomats woke up and watched, slack-jawed, as the spectacular theatre of the Trump-Zelenskyy confrontation played out in the Oval Office and on their screens.”
Many folks we met highlighted his erratic economic policies and statements as threats to the global economy, and more specifically to the Australian stock market and their retirement savings.
One couple understandably fretted over their daughter’s plan to visit the United States in August, even wondering whether there would be a civil war here by then.
Several individuals voiced fear about how an unstable individual with his finger on the nuclear button would manage tensions with China.
In view of Trump’s actions undermining Ukraine and his desire to make Canada the 51st state, others doubted his commitment to our equally loyal ally Australia, particularly in view of mounting Chinese economic and military pressure. (That pressure includes an unannounced, unprecedented live fire drill by Chinese warships in waters not far from Sydney and Melbourne last month, forcing dozens of commercial flight diversions.)
On our way out his door for our flight home, an outraged Aussie friend, by no means a political type, showed us a clip of Fox News host Jesse Watters somehow finding it “personally offensive” that Canadians don’t want “to be taken over by the United States of America” since “that’s what everyone else in the world wants.”
A few Aussies went as far as to share their sentiments on the state of the United States: “We feel sorry for you.”
The sorrow was certainly understandable. In fact, it was the way I sometimes felt during my international development career, when visiting societies repressed and ripped off by corrupt, autocratic regimes. Except the people in those societies typically did not vote such regimes into office.
Not Just Aussies
It wasn’t just Australians who were upset by what America is doing to itself and the world. We met others similarly alarmed. A white Zimbabwean mining executive, apparently no flaming liberal, was aghast at what Trump was doing to democracy and world order.
And then there was the diverse array of fellow travelers (so to speak) with whom we spent several days touring parts of Australia’s beautiful southeastern island of Tasmania. The thirteen participants hailed from America, Australia, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Russia and the United Kingdom. Except for the polite-to-the-point-of-reticence Japanese, they were troubled by Trump’s ascendance.
My wife and I hadn’t intended to indulge in so much discussion of American politics on a trip through a place about as far from America as you can get. But it kept popping up. And we couldn’t resist soliciting their thoughts.
The (anti-Putin) Russian warned that she saw the United States going down a path similar to what Russia experienced at the start of Putin’s reign. In a different chat, and despite my own confusion, I tried to explain to our new Irish friend why so much had gone so awry in our country.
The Lithuanian expressed trepidation over the fact that if Putin could get away with attacking Ukraine, her tiny nation was at great risk. She shared that right after Trump’s election Lithuanians held out hope that, just maybe, he might stand up to such potential aggression against their homeland (a NATO ally). But before long, they concluded that “He’s just an [expletive].”
If there was one comment that cut across the Aussies’ and the foreigners’ reactions to Trump’s election, it was, “How did this happen?”
Down, But Not Knuckling Under
My wife and I returned to America glad to be back home even as we knew home to be in crisis. But we also arrived to a blizzard of emails from friends and neighbors here, about matters local and national.
The local focus was the increasingly promising fight for Benicia (the small Bay Area city where we live) to enact an Industrial Safety Ordinance that would force Texas-based oil giant Valero to be more transparent and accountable regarding its Benicia refinery’s accidents and emissions. Things can change, but our City Council is barely a week away from the vote that will likely seal that deal.
The emails’ national focus comprised discussions of meetings, rallies, strategies and steps to save our freedom and survive Trump’s political onslaught. These initial signs of activism, admittedly in need of much refinement but repeated across the country, constitute seeds of hope in a bleak landscape.
Having just returned from abroad, I wish more than ever that Trump supporters in the United States could hear from folks in other nations, as a counterbalance to Jesse Watters’ jingoism. I wish they could appreciate why, halfway across the world and in many places in-between, so many foreigners fear that what’s happening in America harms not just us but them. I wish they could grasp why those foreigners so strongly back the fight against authoritarianism here.
While it’s ultimately up to Americans whether our democracy sinks or swims, we should take heart from such overseas sentiments. We’re down, but we’re not knuckling under. Our battle to save democracy is just starting.
FORMER MAYOR BLASTS VALERO, BUSD, AND BENEFICIARIES OF DONATIONS AND GRANTS
BENICIA STRONG
Elizabeth Patterson, Benicia Mayor 2007 – 2020
By Elizabeth Patterson, Benicia Mayor 2007-2020, March 9, 2025
The Benicia Unified School District which represents the stewards of science education and protectors of young people is so worried that Texas based Valero may cut them off from the refinery donations that they testified at the City Council last Tuesday. The BUSD administrators detailed the “generosity of Valero” implying that the proposed Industrial Safety Ordinance was a threat to the noted Valero donations.
So, did Valero tell BUSD that that is what would happen if the ISO was adopted by the City – cut donations and grants to BUSD – or why else would they testify? A public member in the council chambers asked for a point of order (and was told that was not in order!) because the subject for public comment was the Industrial Safety Ordinance. Yet, speaker after speaker including the Benicia Chamber of Commerce testified about donations, grants and the business benefits of Valero. There was no acknowledgment of air pollution, safety concerns and public health protection.
And what does the ordinance do that is such a threat to Valero’s existence that the recipients of Valero’s generosity spoke for nearly two hours?
The introduced ISO ordinance establishes that the City of Benicia is entitled to any and all reports filed to federal, state and county regulatory entities. In other words, a seat at the table. No audit. No requests for more information. Just provide the city the same information as the regulators.
The ordinance provides for a process of installing air monitors throughout the city in anticipation of the Bay Area Air District dedicating about $60 million of the $82 million from the largest fine assessed for air quality violations in California. Against Valero. Here in Benicia.
Other Industrial Safety Ordinance’s elements include a citizen’s oversight commission to provide opportunities for the public to learn about public health, air quality, meaning of actions taken by the regulators and direct access to city staff. This is everything a community deserves – information, facts, transparency of what the regulators are doing or not doing and sharing among qualified commission members.
The commission is an opportunity to have ex officio members (An ex officio commission member typically holds expertise in a particular area that can be helpful to the commission in carrying out its duties). The ISO explicitly provides for non-votingex officio members. This is modeled after the Benicia Community Sustainability Commission which has designated seats for Valero, Good Neighbor Steering Committee and BUSD.
Industrial Safety Ordinance supporters highlighted “incidents” over two decades to stress the need for involvement in understanding causes and corrective actions. They detailed air monitoring that is currently inadequately detecting toxic air pollution affecting Benicia businesses and residents.
Clearly the most egregious failure of Valero operations is the hydrogen vent at the refinery leaking 2.7 tons of toxics into the air for 15 years and never reported until the Bay Air District discovered the leaks. That is the reason for the largest fine assessed for air pollution and refinery standards.
During the City Council meeting for the introduction of the final version of the ISO, a spokesperson effectively represented the ISO supporters, thereby saving the City Council from additional hours of testimony. Because the supporters participated actively at the subcommittee stakeholder table throughout the sixteen months, they had made their interests and concern known throughout that period.
The opponents were given every opportunity to refine and improve the ISO. The last-minute effort apparently orchestrated by Valero to torpedo the introduced ISO failed. The City’s process shows that stakeholders should participate and discuss the necessity of ISO based on facts, not fear.
Time will tell if Valero punishes BUSD, youth sports, charitable organizations, the arts and the host of beneficiaries of donations and grants because the City Council unanimously agreed the city has a need for and deserves a seat at the table. Bravo to the City Council: public health and safety first. Benicia strong.
The Benicia City Council plans to vote on a controversial industrial safety ordinance next month despite fierce opposition from oil giant Valero and other industrial businesses that operate in the city.
Oil executives, employees and residents packed a City Council meeting Tuesday to weigh in on the proposal, which would create a citizens’ oversight commission, boost community air quality monitoring and empower city officials to issue fines for safety and air quality violations.
The new law would replace an existing agreement with Benicia. Valero has threatened to sue the city if it moves ahead with the ordinance.
“It’s a governmental overreach, significant governmental overreach — even in California!” Lauren Bird, general manager and vice president of the Benicia refinery, told the council. He touted the facility’s track record of responding to and containing plant malfunctions.
“ We work hard every day to maintain a safe operation,” Bird said. “Are we perfect? Absolutely not. But we work round the clock, 24/7, 365 days, multiple times a shift, multiple people, dedicated people who work hard, who are well trained, who are capable.”
Dozens of refinery employees and company supporters praised Valero for financial contributions to the community and warned against alienating the town’s largest taxpayer.
“ If you keep poking that golden goose, one day it’s going to fly away,” said Mark Hughes, a former council member. “And that’s not a threat, that’s not any inside information I have about Valero. It’s just the likely outcome of a company that constantly feels that it’s being pushed away.”
But Anthony Burnasconi said residents like him are paying too high a price for Valero’s community investments.
“Valero can build baseball fields and donate to the schools, and that is good,” Burnasconi said. “But Valero is also a multibillion-dollar corporation that can spill poison into our air.”
Last year, the regional air district fined the company $82 million for failing to report excess toxic emissions at the Benicia refinery. Those releases occurred between 2003 and 2019 and were not disclosed to the public until 2022.
“More important than the amount of money involved was the number of years that the problems had been ignored,” said ordinance proponent Terry Mollica, speaking after Tuesday’s vote. “Sixteen years of just sweeping the problem under the rug. That’s what people want the ISO to address.”
“Benicia showed up tonight,” said Councilmember Kari Birdseye, who, along with Councilmember Terry Scott and Benicia Fire Chief Josh Chadwick, refined the industrial safety ordinance over 14 months and held dozens of meetings with stakeholders.
“Whether they were for or against it, all of the testimony was very impactful and meaningful to our final decision, and I am over the moon with the 5–0 vote,” Birdseye said. “It showed that our council takes the health and safety of Benicia very seriously.”
Supporters of the ordinance held sunflowers while the dozens who came to speak against the ordinance sported Valero’s dark blue uniforms and T-shirts. Parents on both sides brought their children.
Resident Julian Christi put it simply, saying, “I just want to keep my family safe.”
His daughter Charlotte also addressed the council.
“I am 10 years old, and I’ve lived in Benicia all my life — it’s all I know,” she said. “I go to Joe Henderson Elementary, and I would like to say that I am also in favor of the ISO.”
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