Category Archives: DEIR

Bakken Crude, Benicia Planning Commission, Crude By Rail, DEIR, Tar sands crude, Valero Benicia Refinery

Vallejo Times-Herald: Why the rush on crude?

Repost from The Vallejo Times-Herald, Letters

Why the rush on crude?

By Kathy Kerridge, Vallejo Times-Herald, 07/08/2014

The Benicia Planning commission will take public comments tonight at City Hall on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for Valero’s Crude by Rail project. Written comments are due by Aug. 1. This project would bring 100 rail cars a day over the Donner Pass or through the Feather River Canyon, over rivers, through Truckee, Roseville, Sacramento, Davis, Dixon, Fairfield, the Suisun Marsh and into Benicia.

These trains could be carrying the same Bakken Crude that exploded in Canada, killing 47 people and Canadian Tar Sands, which have proved impossible to clean up when it has spilled in waterways. Some have claimed this is safe. Everyone should be aware that the National Transportation Safety Board in January said that trains carrying crude oil should “where technically feasible require rerouting to avoid transportation of such hazardous materials through populated and other sensitive areas.” At this point in time it is feasible to keep these dangerous materials from going through populated areas by not approving the project. Otherwise it will not be feasible.

The new railcars that Valero says it will use are the same ones that ruptured and spilled April 30, 2014 in Lynchburg, Virginia, threatening Richmond’s water supply. The Department of Transportation is in the process of crafting new rules for rail cars carrying crude, but there is no time line for when they will be issued and it will be some time before any new cars are available. There have been two train derailments in Benicia’s Industrial Park in recent months.

Why the rush? Is Valero running out of crude oil? No. The reason Valero wants to bring in this dangerous crude, in rail cars that split and rupture in a derailment, is that this crude oil is on sale right now. The oil isn’t going anywhere. It isn’t safe to transport through populated areas and all of the communities that this crude goes through will be at risk.

DEIR, Take Action, Uprail communities, Valero Crude By Rail

Davis holding 2 more Workshops: How To Respond to Draft EIR – July 3 & July 8

Repost from Yolano Climate Action (Google Group)

Monday, June 30, 2014
Subject: two upcoming oil train EIR workshop opportunities July 3 & 8

Public Workshop 2 – Responding to Draft Environmental Impact Report on Crude-by-Rail Oil Trains through Davis

 Thursday, July 3 and Tuesday, July 8
7:00-9:00 p.m.
The Blanchard Room at the Davis Branch Library

Bring questions, ideas for topics, drafts and laptops
Bring a friend!  Every letter adds impact!
Exercise your civic rights with written comments!

Homework for July 3 and 8:

  1. If you have a little time – Go to www.benindy.wpengine.com and browse to get an overview of the project, the EIR (table of contents), news article titles since last August, and how to submit your comments.  You’ll have fun and get ideas for what aspect you want to address in your response.
  2. If you have more time:  pick an idea you might want to write about, such as liability issues in the event of an accident or spill, or the regional impact of one train of 100 cars each day; how to weigh risk vs benefit and how this project measures up, etc.    Then look through the DEIR report (posted at www.benindy.wpengine.com) for a section that might address your topic and read it. See if you spot faulty reasoning, or important concepts that are missing, etc.  Jot down notes or make a rough draft.  It will be most effective if you can cite evidence!
  3. If you can’t resist going deeper, or you have a knack for reading EIR reports, plunge in wholeheartedly and tackle as much as you wish.   Your letter can address more than one point, but again, the more serious and thoughtful each point is, the better. Clearly separate each point you want to make.

Agenda for July 3 and 8

  1. Updates
  2. Check-in
    • —-Who has a draft for feedback?
    • —- Who has an idea?  Needs suggestions for development?  Evidence?  Where it fits in the EIR?
    • —-Who needs an idea for a response?
  3. Working together or in groups
  4. Other assignments
    • —-Write to federal senators and congressional reps (testing the crude & reducing the volatility, tank car safety standards, train speeds, right-to-know issues, ideas from NRDC testimony, etc.)
    • —-Sign up to gather signatures.
    • —-Send model letters to us to use as models for others writers.
  5. Join the nation-wide actions commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Lac-Megantic crude-by-rail derailment and explosion.  In Davis, make a sign “Stop Crude by Rail” and join others at the Amtrak station on July 9th at rush hour.  Contact Reeda Palmer for details at reedajpalmer@aol.com
  6. Carpool to the Benicia Planning Commission Public Hearing on the Valero DEIR on July 10, 7pm, Council Chambers, City Hall,250 East L Street, Benicia.  Up-rail participants are needed to show the regional impact of the project.

Contact:  Lynne Nittler at lnittler@sbcglobal.net
— Yolano Climate Action the go to place for climate activism in Yolo and Solano Counties

California Regulation, DEIR, Valero Crude By Rail

Video coverage of BSHC Workshop on Valero DEIR

See video below from Constance Beutel on YouTube

Benicia Videographer Constance Beutel covers Workshop sponsored by Benicians For a Safe & Healthy Community

On Saturday, June 28, Benicians For a Safe and Healthy Community (BSHC) offered a free public workshop on “How to Read and Comment on Valero’s Draft EIR.”

The event, attended by over 60, was primarily an objective study of general information on Environmental Impact Reports, legal requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and an explanation of how ordinary citizens are encouraged to participate in reviewing and commenting on these lengthy documents.

While event planners sought to present an impartial forum as an educational experience, there were plenty of questions and comments from participants that took issue with Valero’s proposal.

After the presentations, breakout groups worked on issues of concern to participants.

Local videographer Constance Beutel covered three of the speakers on her YouTube page.  See the video below, and check out Constance’s many other videos here: http://youtu.be/9Prey7fckk8.

DEIR, Oil Industry, Valero Crude By Rail, Valero Energy Corporation

Investor journal takes notice: Valero DEIR cites significant & unavoidable increase in emissions

Repost from Market News Call
[Editor: Market News call is “a daily market news monitor providing insight, briefs earnings and market news.”  I find it interesting and somewhat encouraging that investors are highly interested in Valero’s Crude By Rail Draft EIR.  – RS]

Just In: Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO)

By Michael Aragon • June 25, 2014

Valero Energy Corporation(NYSE:VLO)’s plan to unload as many as 70,000 barrels of oil a day from trains at its Benicia refinery will increase emissions across California in a “significant and unavoidable” way, a city report shows.

Valero has applied to build a rail-offloading rack at the plant northeast of San Francisco that would take oil from as many as 100 tanker cars a day. The San Antonio-based company delayed the project’s completion by a year to early 2015 as it awaits approval from the city.

“Project-related trains would generate locomotive emissions in the Bay Area Basin, the Sacramento Basin, and other locations in North America,” the city of Benicia said in an environmental assessment posted on its website today. “The city has no jurisdiction to impose any emission controls on the tanker car locomotives; therefore, there is no feasible mitigation available to reduce this significant impact to a less-than-significant level.”

Valero is proposing the rail spur as record volumes of oil are extracted from North American shale formations that the U.S. West Coast has little pipeline access to. California’s refiners are already bringing in the biggest-ever volumes of oil by rail as they seek to displace shrinking supplies of crude within the state and from Alaska.