Category Archives: Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance

Benicia CA, Benicia City Council, Benicia Fire Chief Josh Chadwick, BISHO, Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance, Valero Benicia Refinery

Benicia ISO Coalition awarded SF Baykeeper’s 2025 Community Partner Award

“So many people worked so hard and for so many years to achieve this.”

Benicia ISO Advocates gather at San Francisco’s Dolphin Club to celebrate the Baykeeper’s 2025 Blue Rivet Award. PHOTO: Michaela Joy Photography

Benicia Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance (BISHO), 5/25/25

Benicia, CA—A coalition of Benicia citizen activists and government leaders has been awarded the 2025 San Francisco Baykeeper’s Blue Rivet Award for its work in passing the Benicia Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISHO). The group was presented the award at the annual SF Baykeeper Celebration of Community of Support on Saturday, May 17 at San Francisco’s Dolphin Club.

Baykeeper Executive Director Sejal Choksi-Chugh presents the 2025 Blue Rivet Award to Benicia City Council Member Kari Birdseye and BISHO member Terry Mollica. PHOTO: Michaela Joy Photography

SF Baykeeper Executive Director Sejal Choksi-Chugh presented the award to Benicia Council member Kari Birdseye and BISHO member Terry Mollica with more than a dozen other Benicia ISO advocates attending.

Birdseye and fellow Benicia Council member Terry Scott were the sponsors and advocates for passage of the Benicia ISHO. After the Council voted in December 2023 to have City staff study the issue of formulating a specific Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance for Benicia, Birdseye, Scott and Benicia Fire Chief Josh Chadwick spent months talking with citizens, stakeholders, businesses, and others to determine the best piece of legislation to monitor and protect Benicia’s air quality. Last month, the Council voted unanimously to pass the draft ISO.

Benicia Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance (BISHO) group is a citizens advocacy group which was founded in early 2023 to work toward passage of a strong ISO. More than 265 supporters became part of the group calling for more accountability from Valero and other industrial companies in the City.

For several years, Benicia has had a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) specifically with Valero but it was long believed and advocated that a stronger, more accountable and enforceable ordinance was necessary, particularly in light of ongoing violations. Benicia was the only refinery city in the Bay Area without such an ordinance. Passage of an ISO came close in 2018 but ultimately was not passed by the then-City Council who opted for the MOU. BISHO was formed as an outgrowth of the 2018 effort.

SF Baykeeper was founded in 1989 with the mission to defend the San Francisco Bay and its watershed by holding polluters and government agencies accountable to create healthier communities and help wildlife thrive. The organization uses a unique combination of investigation, advocacy, and litigation to defend the Bay’s waters and the Bay Area’s communities including science field teams that use boats and drones to patrol the waters checking on reports of polluters and legal teams that challenge polluters in court.

The annual Blue Rivet Award honors individuals and groups who have made a significant difference for San Francisco Bay. The Blue Rivet Award includes a plaque with an actual Golden Gate Bridge rivet representing individual efforts by the many community members and businesses that join together to create a thriving, healthy San Francisco Bay.

“The Benicia Industrial and Safety Ordinance is a pivotal legislative public health safeguard that was created through a process of transparency and substantial community outreach,” said Benicia Council Member Terry Scott, who co-sponsored the Ordinance. “And Saturday, we celebrated how a community focused on working toward solving a common problem can come together and achieve greatness.”

“We are honored to be recognized by SF Baykeeper for the success in passing the ISO,” Mollica said. “So many people worked so hard and for so many years to achieve this. All of Benicia should be proud of this significant move toward making our community safer, cleaner and an even better place to live, work and raise families.”

Benicia CA, Benicia City Council, BISHO, Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance, Valero Benicia Refinery

SF Chron: Benicia to increase oversight of Valero refinery after major pollution problems

Benicia City Council passes Industrial Safety Ordinance in unanimous vote

The Valero refinery in Benicia, show in 2019, will be subject to tighter oversight from its host city going forward. Paul Chinn/S.F. Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle, by Julie Johnson, April 2, 2025

Months after Bay Area regulators handed a record-setting fine for pollution violations to oil giant Valero Refining Co.’s Benicia facility, city leaders voted to establish stronger oversight over refinery emissions.

The Benicia City Council unanimously passed regulations Tuesday creating a new air quality monitoring program and requiring the refinery and other entities handling hazardous materials to promptly report emissions.

Vice Mayor Trevor Macenski said they hope to “foster a resilient business environment within Benicia while ensuring that our citizens don’t all need inhalers.”

The city’s plan is modeled after a similar ordinance in Contra Costa County, which for more than two decades has empowered county health officials to investigate potential emissions problems at three oil refineries, including Chevron, across the Carquinez Strait.

The Solano County city has lacked similar oversight power for Valero. Benicia leaders have been frustrated in recent years by revelations of emissions problems at Valero and a lack of notification from agencies charged with pollution oversight. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District waited three years to inform Benicia residents after agency staff discovered Valero was spewing illegal amounts of cancer-causing gases and chemicals into the air and had done so for 16 years.

Council Member Kari Birdseye, who campaigned on more refinery oversight when she was elected in 2022, said in an interview that the air district’s $82 million fine was a “wake-up call” for Benicia.

“Our community wants to know exactly what’s going wrong and how we can ensure those types of things don’t happen again,” Birdseye said.

The ordinance, which takes effect 120 days after the vote, allows the city to investigate pollution issues when other agencies, such as the Bay Area air quality district, state or federal agencies, aren’t conducting investigations. It also requires facilities such as the refinery to report potentially hazardous releases to the city.

The vote was unanimous despite strong opposition from some business representatives and Valero executives, who previously called the ordinance “governmental overreach.”

Valero refinery officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment this week.

The ordinance would also pertain to a dozen other businesses in the city, including the city’s water and wastewater treatment plants, paint company Sherwin-Williams, a chemical decontamination firm, cork supply company, and several manufacturers.

Under a current contract with the city, Valero provides the city a base amount of $331,320 annually. The ordinance would terminate that contract and replace it with fees based on how much hazardous material Valero handles. That applies to other industrial facilities that fall under the ordinance as well. The city’s new plan starts with no fees for the smallest operators and increases up to $386,260 annual fee for the largest.

Photo of Julie Johnson

Julie Johnson is a reporter with The Chronicle’s climate and environment team. Previously she worked as a staff writer at the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, where she had a leading role on the team awarded the 2018 Pulitzer in breaking news for coverage of 2017 wildfires.
Benicia CA, Benicia City Council, BISHO, Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance, Valero Benicia Refinery

Tues. APR 1 – Attend Benicia City Council

BENICIA ISO TO BE VOTED ON APRIL 1
Agenda and how to Zoom In…

BISHO.org

Benicia City Council – Council Agenda for April 1
IN PERSON, 6 PM:
Benicia City Hall, Council Chambers
250 East L Street, Benicia, CA 94510
VIA ZOOM, 6 PM:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88508047557?pwd=cHRsZlBrYlphU3pkODcycytmcFR2UT09
Meeting ID: 885 0804 7557
Password: 449303
Phone: 1 669 900 9128

CALL TO ATTEND – 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.”

Benicia CA, Benicia City Council, BISHO, Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance, Valero Benicia Refinery

Benicia to conduct final vote on the draft Industrial Safety Ordinance

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)

Aims to help protect citizens against potential fires, explosions, toxic emissions connected to Valero Refinery

By Thomas Gase, Vallejo Times Herald, March 31, 2025

Health will be the centerpiece of Tuesday night’s Benicia City Council meeting, set to feature a final vote on whether or not to adopt a draft of a safety ordinance.

The Industrial Safety Ordinance aims to help protect Benicians against potential fires, explosions and toxic emissions connected to the Valero Refinery and other facilities causing health concerns in the city for years.

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.

“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 — a citizens group formed in 2023 to advocate for the passage of the 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.”

The group has more than 250 supporters, with membership and website visits growing as more refinery incidents occur.

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 (an oversight agency) in 2024.

The city of Benicia was given a shelter-in-place alert and areas south of the Valero Refinery were evacuated after a power outage caused a flare up sending plumes of black smoke across Interstate 680. – Chris Riley — Times-Herald

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.

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

The Benicia council voted in January 2023 to begin the process of developing a draft to ultimately be presented to the council for vote. Since that time, a council subcommittee, led by Council Members Terry Scott and Kari Birdseye and Fire Chief Josh Chadwick, has 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 Chadwick, presented the draft ordinance to the council and the public. After presentations by many community members, the council voted unanimously to move forward with the draft, calling for a second reading and final vote that will take place on Tuesday.

“Our citizens group is thrilled that the ordinance 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 the city council has supported this effort.”

The ordinance is on its third draft, which was constructed last month. This newest draft incorporates 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 meeting will be at Benicia City Hall, 230 East L Street, Benicia, beginning at 6 p.m.