Carson’s Mayor & City Council along with city staff posed for a picture after announcing a deal was reached between the city and Marathon Refinery. / Carson Compass photo by Solomon O. Smith
By: Solomon O. Smith, Carson Compass
Carson, CA — Carson City Council announced a $370 million settlement with Marathon/ Tesoro Petroleum after a protracted battle that went all the way to the California Supreme Court.
A 10 a.m. press conference held at the Carson Community Center yesterday announced the terms of the settlement. According to a fact sheet released by the city of Carson a $120 million upfront payment will be followed by $250 million, to be paid out over a 15-year period, totaling $370 million. The amount is larger than the city’s 2027 fiscal year budget of $323.29 million.
The sum is a significant increase over the “pennies” initially offered, said Carson Mayor Lulu Davis-Holmes.
“I think at the end of the day, when we all sat down, they kept going back and forth, and once I said, you know what, we’re acting like the ball is not in our court,” said Davis-Holmes. “We got an option. We either put it on the ballot, let the people decide, or we settle.”
Initially a 2017 tax passed by Carson became a “technical battle” about whether the tax applied to Marathon/Tesoro, according to Carson city attorney Sunny Sultani. The city lost in the California Supreme court case Tesero Refinery v. City of Carson last August. The possibility of a new tax prompted the negotiations.
“At the end of the day, it was about making whole the community that has shouldered the impact of what has allowed these refineries to have these record-high profits,” said Sultani.
Carson withdrew its per barrel refinery tax proposal from the upcoming Nov. 3 ballot as a result. Marathon/Tesoro will, however, continue its payments of the Measure C Oil Industry Business License Tax.
Mayor Davis-Holmes said in a speech that the money will be used to help rebuild the city starting with infrastructure.
Mayor Protempore and district 3 representative, Cedric L. Hicks, Sr., described the settlement as a win for the people of Carson and a possible first step on the way to climate justice for Carson’s residents.
“So with the settlement, we now have a an agreement that we can work together on to make sure that the city is not an environmental injustice area as it was in the past,” said Hicks.
Dorothy “Aloha” Ross is a prominent figure in the Carson community. A retired teacher and community volunteer who has lived in Carson for over five decades. Ross would like to see some of the money go to youth programs, but she is also concerned about health issues in the areas around the refinery.
“We have the $370 million. We have the possibility of $430 million. As a result, that money can definitely be used, especially for our people,” said Ross. “We’re the ones that suffer the most when it comes to anything. We’re the ones who have to fight the hardest to get things done.”
