HazMat crews responding to release of petroleum coke ‘dust’ at Martinez refinery
The Martinez Refining Company is under investigation for another leak, this time a petcoke ‘dust’ release. It took two hours for the refinery to alert the Contra Costa Health Department about the leak, prompting renewed scrutiny for refinery notification standards and protocols. | Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group
(KRON) — HazMat crews are responding to the Martinez Refining Company in Martinez after chemical dust was released into the air on Tuesday. The incident is being investigated by inspectors, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. The agency said it is closely monitoring a petroleum coke release at the refinery and responding to complaints.
The agency is also documenting air quality violations and assisting first responders.
“Follow instructions from health officials,” the agency advised.
The Contra Costa Health Department’s HazMat team is also responding to the incident, which it described as the “release of dust” from Martinez Refining Company. Material from the release is visible on the ground in the surrounding neighborhoods, according to CCH.
Unlike a release of spent catalyst at the refinery last November that lasted from Thanksgiving night until the next day, MRC did notify CCH of the release at 10:22 a.m. Tuesday, according to CCH spokesperson Karl Fischer.
Tuesday’s release occurred at about 8:30 a.m. and lasted one minute. However, health officials expressed concern that it took nearly two hours for MRC to notify them.
“We are very concerned about the delayed notification to the Community Warning System,” said Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover. “We are once again responding to a refinery incident and trying to determine the health impacts. We understand this is an ongoing concern for our community and timely notification is critical.”
“We do not yet know how much material was released, or how far it spread,” Fischer said. Sirens did not go off, as the refinery reported the release to the Community Warning System as a Level 1 incident, which doesn’t require the alarms. No area streets were closed for cleanup.
Like the November release, community members found dust particles on parked cars and on the ground.
Fischer said the material released was “coke dust,” which is a byproduct of the petroleum refining process. In November, the particles were “spent catalyst,” comprised of elevated levels of aluminum, barium, chromium, nickel, vanadium, and zinc, all of which can cause respiratory problems.
Health workers took samples for analysis Tuesday morning. CCH hazardous materials crews are investigating. Fischer said.
The public is advised to avoid breathing or coming into close contact with the material. CCH is collecting samples for lab analysis.
The refinery put out a statement on social media, describing the incident as a “brief release of Coke dust,” and saying that refinery personnel were conducting community monitoring.
The refinery urged anyone who had a claim or concern related to the release to contact a claims rep at 800-542-7113.
What is petroleum coke dust?
Petroleum coke is a carbon rich solid material that is a byproduct of oil refining. The substance is described as black in color and resembles soot. Health officials recommend using soap and water to clean impacted outdoor surfaces.
[Note from BenIndy contributor Nathalie Christian: It’s mostly good news – soil tests suggest that the Martinez Refinery Company’s (MCR) 50,000-pound chemical release last November will have no long-term effects on our safety. However, these same soil tests showed arsenic and lead levels either close to or in excess of state health limits at some sites. Toxicologists say that these concentrations were not related to the November release, so now my questions are: Which sites are showing unsafe lead and arsenic levels, exactly? Where did the toxic compounds come from if not the MRC release? And of course there’s the matter of MRC not disclosing the incident and associated impacts until its hand was forced. A report with more information is due in the next few weeks, stay tuned.]
Martinez Refinery’s Chemical Release Poses No Long-Term Hazard, Tests Find
Martinez Refinery. | Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group.
KQED, by Ted Goldberg and Dan Brekke, June 8, 2023
Contra Costa County health officials announced Thursday that soil testing conducted in the months after a Martinez oil refinery released nearly 50,000 pounds of powdered industrial chemicals last November has found no long-term health risks to residents in the area.
Contra Costa Health Officer Dr. Ori Tzvieli said the county is immediately lifting a March 7 advisory (PDF) that recommended residents refrain from consuming fruits and vegetables grown in soil that had received fallout from the Martinez Refining Company’s release. The refinery company is owned and operated by PBF Energy, based in Parsippany, New Jersey.
Tzvieli said the soil testing and an associated risk assessment “confirms that the primary health risk from the spent catalyst release occurred in the initial hours and days after the refinery release.”
The soil-testing results were released to a community oversight committee formed after the releases, which occurred last Nov. 24–25, on Thanksgiving and the following day.
Tzvieli added during a media briefing that followed the committee meeting that because PBF failed to immediately notify officials about the release, questions remain about what health effects residents might experience because of their exposure to the toxic dust immediately after it settled on their neighborhoods.
“We weren’t able to do measurement in real time because we didn’t know this was going on until several days later,” Tzvieli said. “So had we been able to do measurement in real time, we would have been able to look at concentrations — what was in the air.”
Some of the heavy metals in the dust, such as nickel, pose health concerns, he said.
“Some of those can have effects on the immune system, some of these metals can be carcinogenic. So it is a concerning incident,” he said.
At the same time, he added, the inability to measure the November release as it was occurring makes it hard to distinguish the hazard the incident posed from the impact of ongoing refinery emissions.
“So that’s why it’s hard to give people specific information about the risks that stemmed from this particular release,” Tzvieli said.
Consultants hired by the county analyzed soil samples from 14 sites stretching from El Sobrante to Benicia for more than a dozen metals that may have been associated with the release of 24 tons of refinery dust — material described as “spent catalyst” used in the refining process.
The results for most of the heavy metals the samples were analyzed for, including aluminum, copper, nickel, zinc and chromium, all came back both within an expected regional background range and below residential health limits set by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.
Jenny Phillips, a toxicologist employed by consultant TRC, reported that samples of arsenic and lead were close to or exceeded state health limits at a handful of sites. But she added that the higher levels of those two toxic metals were probably unrelated to last November’s refinery release. [Emphasis added.] TRC’s report will be made available to the public sometime in the next two weeks, and it will be open for comment for 45 days.
‘One hundred ninety-four days after the release, we are now at the point where we’re telling people it’s OK to eat the fresh fruits and vegetables. The process is flawed.’Tony Semenza, Martinez resident and member of the oversight committee
Matt Kaufmann, Contra Costa County’s deputy health director, emphasized that the investigation of the Martinez incident is far from over. The county has hired a consultant to perform an independent root cause analysis of the release, and county prosecutors are weighing potential charges against the refinery.
Kaufmann criticized the refining company for failing to immediately notify local officials when the incident occurred.
The test results released Thursday “do not excuse the Martinez Refining Company for the lack of notification at the onset of this incident,” he said. “The lack of timely notification negated our ability as health officials to protect our community, including those most vulnerable, namely the medically compromised, the elderly and the children within our community.”
In a statement, PBF Energy spokesperson Brandon Matson said the company was “pleased” the county had released the soil-testing analysis and lifted its health advisory.
“The results are in line with our initial statements about the material,” Matson said. He also offered the latest in a string of apologies the company has offered to Martinez residents, saying the company has investigated the release, has identified corrective actions and is committed to implementing them.
Tony Semenza, a Martinez resident serving on the oversight committee, expressed frustration that it has taken so long to assess the hazard posed by the releases.
“One hundred ninety-four days after the release, we are now at the point where we’re telling people it’s OK to eat the fresh fruits and vegetables,” Semenza said. “The process is flawed. This should have been done much quicker, a while ago. … I’m upset with the way the process works.”
The test results come less than two weeks after the FBI confirmed it has launched a joint investigation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency into the Martinez plant’s spent catalyst release.
Members of the refinery accountability group Healthy Martinez welcomed the largely reassuring test results, but expressed continuing misgivings about PBF and the refinery.
“I’m grateful that the Thanksgiving release no longer poses serious danger and that Contra Costa Health has demonstrated leadership in this process, but I still don’t trust the refinery that didn’t report it,” said Martinez resident group member Jillian Elliott.
“Today’s results are only one piece of the larger issue,” said Heidi Taylor, a longtime Martinez resident and Healthy Martinez member. “It doesn’t change the fact that this oil refinery dumped toxic metals on our community (and) didn’t report it to county health.”
Healthy Martinez has also called on PBF to install improved emissions control and air monitoring equipment at the refinery.
FBI agents and EPA personnel have gone door to door asking residents about their experience during and after the incident. The probe also has included circulation of an online survey.
Martinez resident Wendy Ke said representatives from both federal agencies approached her late last month and asked a series of questions.
“It was primarily, ‘Do you have photos, do you have videos, do you have factual documentation? Did you touch the spent catalyst? Did you see it?’” Ke said.
She said the morning after Thanksgiving, her neighborhood was coated with what looked like ash, as if there had been a major wildfire nearby.
“But it did look a little bit different,” she said. “It didn’t have a light-weight ash to it, like flaky ash. It seemed a little more sticky.”
The same morning, resident Zachary Taylor found his neighborhood covered in dust.
“Just a consistent coating across everything, almost like a snowfall, like a light dusting, but then we go out across the street and absolutely everything is covered with it,” Taylor said.
Refinery dust known as ‘spent catalyst’ from the PBF Energy plant sits on a car windshield in Martinez in late November 2022.
Refinery catalyst is a powdered chemical compound used in the process of breaking down crude petroleum into products like gasoline. Spent catalyst is the material left over after the high-temperature refining process and contains a mix of potentially hazardous components.
Before Thursday’s test results were released, county health officials told Martinez residents that the dust that coated homes, vehicles, lawns, gardens and a nearby schoolyard included heavy metals (PDF), including aluminum, chromium, nickel, vanadium and zinc. The county health department said there could have been short-term respiratory problems from breathing in the dust right after the incident, and that potential long-term health impacts would depend on each person’s exposure.
Contra Costa County hired TRC, a Connecticut-based consulting and engineering firm, to take soil samples in 14 locations (PDF) from El Sobrante to Martinez to Benicia. Those locations were chosen after local air regulators mapped fallout from the release (PDF). Crews began collecting samples in May. Health officials say the samples were taken to a lab to see which health risks they might pose through touching, inhaling or consuming food.
The department also asked local prosecutors to file charges against PBF Energy. That request is under review, according to Ted Asregadoo, a Contra Costa County District Attorney spokesperson.
Asregadoo said the office is investigating whether PBF violated the law by failing to report an actual or threatened hazardous material release to county officials and whether the company made illegal discharges into the county stormwater system.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has said the release was caused by a malfunction (PDF) within the refinery’s fluid catalytic cracking unit. The air district has issued 21 notices of violation against PBF in connection with the November release and continues to investigate the incident, according to district spokesperson Ralph Borrmann.
PBF representatives have apologized for the releases, noting the company has cooperated with regulators and made changes to prevent a repeat of the Thanksgiving incident.
Nevertheless, some refinery neighbors say their sense of safety has been shattered.
“At this point I feel very uncertain about what I’m breathing, knowing what the potential is for release on a daily basis,” said Ke, who has lived in Martinez for more than a decade.
[Note from BenIndy contributor Nathalie Christian: This article covers the FBI/EPA joint investigation of the Martinez Refining Company’s ‘toxic dustfall’ in much more detail than what I posted yesterday. Remember to save the date of June 13 for Valero’s Benicia Refinery CAP’s community presentation on its own incident response and air monitoring programs. Valero does not operate the Martinez refinery that released the toxic materials last year, but its incident response efforts at our own Benicia refinery should concern all Benicians. The flyer for that event is at the end of this post.]
FBI, EPA investigating hazardous chemical release from Martinez refinery
The Martinez Refining Company (in the background) is very close to residential neighborhoods (in the foreground), much like Valero’s Benicia Refinery is close to Benicia’s own residential neighborhoods (and schools). | Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group
Mercury News, by Katie Lauer for the Bay Area News Group, May 28, 2023
MARTINEZ — Federal agents have started asking questions about the 24 tons of toxic, dusty residue that showered down on neighbors living near the Martinez Refining Company last Thanksgiving.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice started assisting the Environmental Protection Agency investigate the November 2022 incident this week, going door-to-door to survey residents about their experience, according to news reports and a news release from a community spokesperson.
For now, the tens of thousands of residents who found a fine, white substance blanketing their cars, porches and plants over the holiday continue to wait for answers about if – or to what extent – the community was poisoned more than six months ago.
Shortly after the incident, the company said on Facebook that the ashy grit was a “non-toxic”, “non-hazardous” and “naturally occurring” catalyst dust expelled from its 860-acre facility, which is located at 3485 Pacheco Blvd. on the city’s northern industrial corridor.
But within a few days, the Contra Costa County Health Department alerted residents that the dust — a byproduct of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel refined at the facility — actually contained aluminum, barium, chromium and other hazardous metals. Those chemicals are linked to nausea, vomiting, respiratory issues, immune system dysfunction, cancer and even death.
County officials said that the company failed to immediately inform them of the chemical release, which is required by law.
Heidi Taylor, who moved to Martinez with her family in August, said her son and husband first noticed the spent catalyst the day after Thanksgiving, finding an antique dresser that was left outside covered with a chalky, white dust, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Initially thinking the substance was soot from wood burning, Taylor’s son wiped his hand across the top of the furniture, which sent dust into the air.
“That memory is just seared into my brain and it freaks me out,” Taylor told the Los Angeles Times, adding that she also ate homemade applesauce and peppermint tea from the family’s backyard trees and garden. “I understand that may sound a little crazy … but people don’t understand what it’s like to live in this constant fear and anxiety of not knowing what these toxic metals will do.”
The Martinez Refining Company, owned by PBF Energy, is aware of the federal inquiry, but declined to comment on details of the ongoing investigations, according to spokesperson Brandon Matson.
We are cooperating with all relevant agencies, including with respect to any ongoing investigations related to the incident,” Matson said in a statement. “We would, however, like to take this opportunity to once again apologize to the Martinez community for the spent catalyst release on November 24, 2022. We have thoroughly investigated the incident to identify appropriate corrective actions and we are committed to implementing them.”
Representatives from both the FBI in San Francisco and EPA Region 9 confirmed that the joint investigation is ongoing, but declined to comment further.
Soil samples collected the first week of May are expected to yield more specific results about the town’s contamination by early June, county health officials said.
Toxicologists with TRC, a Concord-based environmental consulting firm, are analyzing samples taken from 14 different sites neighboring the refinery — evaluating the extent of contamination residents were exposed to through skin contact, inhalation or consumption of food grown in the ground, according to Laura Trozzolo, a senior human health risk assessor with TRC.
She said the soil sample locations — reaching as far as Benicia and El Sobrante — were chosen based on a map of where the plume of particles likely landed, using models from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, residents’ observations and wind simulations.
Trozzolo said that neither the five-month delay in data collection — due to the county’s lengthy contracting procedures — nor the recent historic storms that drenched the area should negatively impact lab findings.
Meanwhile, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office opened a case in January on the refinery’s failure to notify hazmat officials about the hazardous release, according to Matthew Kaufmann, the county’s deputy health director.
In the meantime, the county is still recommending that residents impacted by the toxic dust avoid eating any produce planted in the soil. However, gardeners are also encouraged to plant new seeds, in the event that soil samples don’t uncover any hazards.
[Note from BenIndy contributor Nathalie Christian: Benicia residents should be aware that the plume that carried the toxic dust from the refinery in Martinez reached as far as Benicia, with toxicologists collecting samples from our own city to pursue their investigation. I nearly missed this news but for someone taking the time to send it to me (thanks!). This my my open invitation for you to send me tips and heads-ups on news impacting Benicia at benindy@beniciaindependent.com. It is essential our community stay informed, and I need your help. Remember to save the date of June 13 to attend Valero’s Benicia Refinery CAP’s community presentation on its incident response. The flyer for that event is at the end of this post.]
FBI investigating hazardous fallout from Bay Area refinery
People living near the Martinez Refining Company in Martinez are under a health advisory from the Contra Costa Health Services to not eat food grown in their gardens until they have tested or replaced their soil due to a refinery accidentally release of dust containing heavy metals in November | Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group
FBI agents and EPA Region 9 staff have been going door to door in the city of Martinez, asking residents for details about the release of metal-laden dust from the Martinez Refining Co. over the Thanksgiving holiday last year.
An FBI spokespeson confirmed Friday that the agents were canvassing residents as part of a joint investigation, but referred all other inquiries to the EPA.
“EPA is communicating with local, state, and federal agencies and does not comment on any ongoing investigations,” said Michael Brogan, a spokesperson for EPA Region 9.
Martinez Refining, located on an 880-acre industrial complex on the northern edge of the city, emitted as much as 24 tons of so-called spent catalyst, a mix of chemicals used to break down crude oil into finished petroleum products like gasoline, according to the local air district.
The fallout left cars, homes and at least one school blanketed in a white powdery substance. Tests determined that the residue contained metals such as aluminum, barium, chromium, nickel, vanadium and zinc.
Martinez Refining did not immediately inform county officials about the chemical release as required by law, according to Contra Costa County Health Services. The local air district and county officials learned after receiving complaints from residents.
The health department later advised community members not to eat foods grown in the soil if their homes were dusted by the spent catalyst.
The entry of federal investigators has stunned Martinez residents who are still awaiting the county-ordered soil testing and investigations by other local agencies.“We kind of expected quiet investigations in the background. But to have the FBI come out, that was never on our radar at all,” said one Martinez resident who spoke with federal investigators and asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation.
The county health department has referred two violations to the Contra Costa County district attorney’s office — one for failure to notify the proper authorities of a hazardous material release and one for illicit discharges into the county stormwater system. Both referrals remain under review.
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