MARTINEZ – An oil refinery sent potentially hazardous “coke dust” billowing into neighborhoods in Martinez on Tuesday morning, just weeks after the soil was declared safe after a previous discharge.
Contra Costa County health officials advised residents to avoid breathing the black dust released by the Martinez Refinery Company or making close contact with it until hazardous-materials teams were able to collect and test samples of the residue.
The dust landed in some surrounding neighborhoods, according to the health department, which posted its first response on social media.
“It’s pretty scary living in this town now,” said Connie Arieta-Soria, a lifelong Martinez resident who was diagnosed with asthma after the release just after Thanksgiving last year. “I’m just distraught and upset.”
According to health officials, the company reported Tuesday’s discharge through the county’s Community Warning System and identified the material as coke dust, a byproduct of the refining process. It was classified as a Level 1 release that was not expected to pose serious health concerns for the community.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that it will stay at a Level 1,” said Martinez Mayor Brianne Zorn. Zorn recently told the community that the refinery, a subsidiary of PBF Energy, would need to reestablish trust with local leadership and the city’s residents after the last release.
Health officials said coke dust is a mostly carbonate material and that lab results were needed in order to compare its level of danger to the spent catalyst released last November. It’s possible that the dust is contaminated with similar hazardous metals contained in spent catalyst. The substance released that day contained metals including aluminum, barium and chromium and has since prompted a federal investigation.
“So far, we have no reason to believe that anyone is going to experience specific health effects due to the release of this dust,” said Nicole Heath, the director of Contra Costa’s hazardous materials team.
According to Heath, refinery officials notified the county of the release at 10:21 a.m. They were told the release first occurred at 8:30 a.m. — nearly two hours earlier — and that it lasted one minute.
Regulatory procedures require the county health department to be notified within 15 minutes of the refinery learning about a release. Residents said they did not receive emails or phone calls from the city, but rather heard about the latest discharge on the news or social media.
“We are very concerned about the delayed notification to the Community Warning System. We are once again responding to a refinery incident and trying to determine the health impacts,” said Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover in a statement. “We understand this is an ongoing concern for our community and timely notification is critical.”
No cause was identified for the coke dust discharge.
The release in November raised similar problems about transparency and reporting procedures from the refinery. The refinery leaked a sand-like substance into the community without notifying the county health department at all. That release has since prompted a federal investigation.
Brandon Matson, a spokesperson for the refinery, said the refinery has “notified appropriate agencies” and that refinery personnel were conducting “off-site monitoring” following the release Tuesday.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our neighbors,” Matson said.
For Arieta-Sota and other residents, the release is further evidence of a concerning safety pattern at the neighboring refinery, whose silver smoke stacks define the city’s skyline.
“I don’t even feel safe here anymore, and I was born and raised here,” Arieta-Soria said.
Source: www.mercurynews.com