Benicians may or may not know that a Community Advisory Panel (CAP) has been in existence since Valero purchased the refinery from Exxon. This is an eight (8) member panel comprised of a representative from the Benicia City Council, Benicia Chamber of Commerce, Benicia Industrial Park Association, Good Neighbor Steering Committee, Benicia Unified School Board and 3 “At Large” members. The Mission or the CAP is to provide a means of communications between Valero and the community on matters of mutual concern and interest that relates to refinery operations and Valero’s impact on the community, and to provide an advisory role to Valero on those matters. (Paraphrased mission statement by author)
My name is Dennis Lowry, and I was honored to be appointed as a community member at large to this panel. I have lived in Benicia since 1986 and have served in a couple of service roles for Benicia in the past (Chairman of the City’s Finance Committee 2009-2012 and an instructor for the Benicia Emergency Response Teams 2012-2014).
As a Community Member to the CAP, my role is to represent the community and not any special interest group. The only way I can effectively do my job is to seek ways to gain input from the community regarding Valero, both the good and the bad. There are five (5) existing resources to contact or learn about Valero:
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- 24-hour hot line – 707-745-7534
- Refinery Notifications – Sign up for notifications at www.beniciarefinery.com
- Receive email or phone notifications by signing up at www.ci.benicia.ca.us/publicinf...
- CAP website at www.beniciacap.com
- Air monitoring program at beniciarefineryairmonitors.org
If you don’t get the information you need, please consider me as your personal resource by sending me an email at [email protected]. I am offering this service to better fulfill my CAP role and will work tirelessly to try to get you an answer to your questions or concerns.
COMMUNITY INFORMATION NIGHT – DEC 13, 2022
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Valero is hosting a Community Information Night and all of Benicia is invited on December 13, 2022, at 4:30 – 5:30pm. The meeting is located at 610 Industrial Way. Go thru the gate on the right side of the building and park in the back. The meeting room will be towards the end of the building. I hope to see you there.
