URGENT - Protect Benicia's Health and Safety

The Coalition of Responsible Environmentalists Against Toxic Emissions (CREATE) is currently in negotiations with Valero and the City of Benicia to ensure that environmental safeguards to protect Benicia are conditions for the permit for VIP. Thus far NO SETTLEMENT HAS BEEN REACHED. While negotiations continuing, and Dana Dean is continuing to negotiate in good faith on our behalf, all indications are that the City Council will be considering our appeal of the permit granted by the Planning Commission in a special meeting on Wednesday, June 4th. At this meeting, if we do not have a strong showing we will lose!

It is critical that we take action NOW! What happens in the next few days will have nationwide ramifications. The EPA in Washington DC, and many other organizations are watching what happens here. Please continue gathering signatures on the Petition. Valero has already begun a lobbying campaign, asking its employees to email the members of the City Council. We, too, must put pressure on the City Council and the Mayor to support our efforts to ensure that enforceable environmental controls are made a part of the permit. Without them, Valero is not obligated to abide by its “promises.” This may be our last opportunity demand environmental protection for many years.

Steve Messina and Bill Whitney are up for re-election this year. Please, email each member of the council by Monday to ensure they receive your message before the next set of talks. Below you will find text that you can simply cut and paste into an email, or use your own words. Please email Danika Kavulich at Danika [at] solanopeaceandjustice.com each time you call, or copy me on your emails so we know you contacted the council. We are trying to track how many people contact the council.

Mayor Steve Messina can be reached at smessina [at] ci.benicia.ca.us or 746-4212.
Vice Mayor Tom Campbell can be reached at tcampbell [at] ci.benicia.ca.us or 746-4213 x2
Council Member Bill Whitney can be reached at bwhitney [at] ci.benicia.ca.us or 746-4213 x3
Council Member Dan Smith can be reached at or dsmith [at] ci.benicia.ca.us 746-4213 x4
(Pierre Bidou works for Valero, and therefore, will not be participating in any discussions or votes on Valero related issues.)

We need everyone’s help to protect our environment and our health. Please act now, and please be prepared to come to the Special City Council Meeting at 6 pm, Wednesday, June 4th. We will let you know if we are able to come to an agreement prior to the meeting. Please bring everyone you know. We cannot spare even one person.

Also, if you have not signed our petition, and have not taken it to your friends and neighbors to sign, please do so and return them to us before Tuesday, June 3rd. For more information on talking points, call Dana Dean at 707-745-9454


Dear Mayor Messina and City Council:


As a Benicia Resident, I am very concerned about protecting Benicia’s health and safety. Please make our children a priority by supporting the CREATE Coalition’s permitting conditions for VIP. We ask that Valero be required to:

§ Install at “start up” of VIP, a “Main Stack Flue Gas Scrubber” (aka scrubber) as a critical piece of equipment that will significantly reduce some pollutants from the refining process. The scrubber was part of the original carrot offered to the city and which Valero touted as providing “significant environmental benefits to the community.”
§ Fully fund a city-sponsored Water Reuse Project. VIP will require increased demand for excess city water. Valero originally promised to help initiate and fund this water recycling project, an important safeguard in periods of extended drought and/or questionable availability of water supply
§ Fund and install Air Monitoring Stations at several school sites in close proximity to the refinery. We need a local monitoring system installed to inform residents and officials of real-time air quality and measure concentrations of all “toxic air contaminants”, as well as methods to provide an early warning system for refinery accidents. There is currently no official air monitoring stations in Benicia, the host community for a major oil refinery!
§ Fund solar panels to be installed on public buildings to compensate for VIP’s excessive energy drain.