Boston, MA 06/20/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) plan to unload up to 70,000 barrels of oil a day at the Benicia refinery has caught the attention of environment authorities as it is expected to contribute a lot of emissions across California in a ‘significant and unavoidable’ way. The company has already applied to build a rail –offloading rack at the plant to be used’ in taking oil from up to 100 tanker cars. The company was forced to delay the project awaiting approval from the city.
Environmentalists Concerns
The major concern lies on the way the project will generate locomotive emissions in the Bay area basin according to an environmental assessment. As the city does not have any jurisdiction to impose emission controls on tanker car locomotives, it means there is no feasible mitigation available that will be used to reduce the impact to be less significant.
The Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) is proposing the rail spur for extraction of oil from shale formations as volumes continue to hit record levels. Refiners in California continue to bring in some of the biggest volumes of oil by rail as supplies of crude oil continue to shrink in Alaska, and other states.
Valero Rail Project Setback
Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) suffered its major setback after a series of explosions and derailments of trains carrying oil in Quebec resulted in 47 fatalities prompting the city of Benicia to order for an environmental study before giving out its final decision. Things could get even stinger as authorities in the U.S., and Canada continue to impose new rules designed to improve safety on trains carrying oil.
The city of Vancouver in Washington earlier in the month voted to oppose the construction of a 360,000 barrel-a-day rail by Tesoro Corporation (NYSE:TSO). According to an analysis carried out as part of the environmental study, Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO)’s Benicia project could cause a spill of 100 gallons once every 111 years.
