According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Benicia residents are fighting a plan to upgrade Valero Energy Corporation’s refinery there, fearing it will increase air pollution and cause more health problems in the county.

Last month, the $140 million plan was approved by the city’s Planning Commission and appealed to the Benicia City Council by a group of residents and environmentalists. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District must approve the plan. A hearing is scheduled for June 4.

At a news conference on Wednesday (5/28), opponents to the plan demanded steps be taken to reduce pollution at the refinery before an expansion.

According to a Valero spokesman, the refinery project, which would involve replacing old equipment with new, more efficient machinery, would make the refinery cleaner, as well as create jobs and increase local tax revenue.

In addition, the refinery would cut emissions by 40 percent by installing a scrubber designed to remove pollutants from its stacks. Company spokesman Bill Tanner said Valero would be the first refinery on the West Coast to use a scrubber in the exhaust portion of the refining process.
The plant can handle up to 135,000 barrels per day of crude and that capacity would increase 10 percent after the upgrade.