Valero pours cash into Benicia elections
“Valero does not like being exposed. They pretend to be this good neighbor, but they’re not.” Cathy Bennett, Benicia resident
Benicia Mayor Steve Young said he wondered whether Valero Energy Corp. would stay out of the city’s elections this year after it was reported that its refinery had released unlawful amounts of toxic gases that went undetected for 16 years.
“I thought, ‘They might sit this one out, particularly with the revelation of all their emissions problems,’ ” Young said. “But I was wrong.”
In the final days before Tuesday’s election, Valero made a last-minute spending blitz to influence the outcome of two City Council races in Benicia, a community in the East Bay where the company operates one of the largest oil refineries in the state.
The sudden influx of spending has sparked criticism from some residents who accuse Valero of trying to re-elect council members who have been less critical of the company over its emissions violations.
Since Oct. 24, Valero has spent $73,000 on the council races through a political action committee that it bankrolls. That total could soar with final spending reports, and the company has poured about $230,000 into the committee.
By comparison, the city has a voluntary spending cap that bars candidates
from spending more than $34,000, though no candidate has spent anything close to that in any recent election.
Last week a few dozen residents protested Valero’s involvement at a park in the center of town. They carried signs that read “Valero stop polluting our elections” or showed images of flaring smokestacks. The company has waded into city contests for at least the past three election cycles, but critics said this spending feels more galling in light of its emissions problems.
Valero didn’t respond to requests for comment. But
it’s no mystery that the Texas-based company has long been at odds with many residents of Benicia, a tiny community of fewer than 27,000 residents.
In January, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District revealed that one of the company’s hydrogen stacks had released excessive levels of dangerous gases — including cancercausing benzene — from 2003 to 2019.
The stack released an estimated average of 4,000 pounds of hydrocarbons, or more than 266 times the 15-pound limit, each day. Valero said, in a statement to the air district last
March, that the excessive emissions were a “surprise” and that it has eliminated 98% of the emissions since it learned about the problem three years ago.
Cathy Bennett, a longtime Benicia resident who attended the protest, said it’s clear the company wants city leaders who won’t criticize it over such violations. Bennett said she developed asthma after moving to town in her 50s, which she attributes to refinery pollution.
“Valero does not like being exposed,” she said. “They pretend to be this good neighbor, but they’re not. We’re just a community resource to be consumed for their profit.”
Valero’s spending has fueled a torrent of glossy fliers landing in voters’ mailboxes urging support for Council Members Christina Strawbridge and Lionel Largaespada, who were up for re-election.
Strawbridge, a moderate Democrat, and Largaespada, a moderate Republican, have both repeatedly said they don’t want Valero wading into the election. Valero’s spending has come in the form of independent expenditures, not direct contributions to the candidates themselves. If they lose, however, Valero could face a harsher slate of more progressive critics on the council.
They face three challengers who are also running for two at-large council seats: Kari Birdseye, a planning commissioner; Terry Scott, a nonprofit executive; and William Innes, a retired educator.
Refineries are heavily regulated at the state and federal levels, but the election could also shape local restrictions — and local leaders can help magnify complaints about emissions violations. Environmentalists also fear that a years-long debate about whether to allow a crudeoil-by-rail facility in the city could be revived.
Strawbridge said she has no idea why Valero would favor her as a candidate, especially since she previously voted against the rail project proposal. But she said the city needs leaders willing to negotiate with Valero, which is responsible for the vast majority of its tax base.
“I wish Valero had stayed out of it,” she said of the election. “You need to be able to work with them, but still hold them accountable for the way they do business.”
Largaespada said he, too, didn’t ask for the company’s support. Since Valero’s spending has been via independent expenditures, it cannot be coordinated with candidate campaigns and is not subject to spending limits.
“I’m focused on running my own campaign,” he said. “It doesn’t help me at all, in any way.”