A Bay Area city reels from refinery’s hazardous fallout. Did warnings come too late?

It was the morning after Thanksgiving when residents within the Bay Space metropolis of Martinez awoke to search out their houses, automobiles and yards blanketed by a mysterious pale residue.

Though the dusting resembled ash, there have been no wildfires close by. When residents referred to as native authorities, they realized nothing.

5 days later, the Contra Costa County Well being Division revealed a press launch informing residents that the “powdery substance” was a hazardous materials launched by Martinez Refining Co. on the northern fringe of the town. Residents had been informed to contact well being suppliers in the event that they had been experiencing coughing or problem respiration.

However then, a month after the incident, the well being division advisable not consuming meals grown in soil that was uncovered to the fabric.

In the present day, residents of this tightknit group 30 miles northeast of San Francisco are nonetheless demanding to know what dangers they face after 20 tons of spent catalyst had been lofted over space houses, and why it’s been so onerous to get solutions.

Whereas the county has launched an investigation into why the refinery didn’t challenge an alert, residents have accused county well being officers of failing to correctly inform residents of potential well being hazards lengthy after the incident. They are saying that an preliminary Jan. 11 well being discover was seen by too few individuals, and that it wasn’t till a second discover was issued March 7 that folks realized they shouldn’t be consuming fruit from their bushes or greens from their backyard.

“Not solely have I been feeding that to my husband, my son and myself, but additionally to my 90-year-old mom,” stated Penny Bristow-Wendt, who lives a mile south of the refinery. “Why weren’t we notified sooner?”

Take a look at samples of the residue revealed such metals as aluminum, barium, chromium, nickel, vanadium and zinc. The testing, nonetheless, didn’t distinguish which forms of chromium had been detected, which might be an essential distinction. Hexavalent chromium, for instance, is a potent carcinogen that has no secure quantity of publicity whereas trivalent chromium is taken into account a lot much less poisonous.

County well being officers have insisted that essentially the most important well being dangers had been short-term respiratory results from inhaling the air pollution over the 2 days it was launched, and that severe well being issues are usually related to long-term publicity to excessive concentrations of the fabric.

They stated their alerts had been issued out of an abundance of warning.

“It’s form of a tough stability since you don’t wish to unnecessarily scare individuals,” stated Dr. Ori Tzvieli, the county well being officer. “However we additionally don’t wish to falsely reassure individuals. We wish to simply say, let’s see what the outcomes say after which we’ll have extra data for you then.”

Such statements have performed little to placate residents nonetheless. 4 months after the discharge, some are demanding that well being officers expedite soil sampling to find out simply how far the fallout unfold.

“The dearth of notification is simply unconscionable,” resident Christina Reich stated throughout a latest public listening to. “It’s felony. And we actually must do higher and we have to instantly expedite the testing. We have to discover out precisely the complete extent of what’s occurring, how far out these contaminants have gone, and what impact they’ve.”

One other resident, who recognized himself solely as Jeffrey, lamented he had been consuming eggs laid by his chickens, which he retains at his residence.

“That is horrendously late data to say, ‘Hey, possibly you shouldn’t be consuming your greens,’ ” he stated. “How do we all know that [the refinery] goes to have any sort of accountability? It simply looks as if the way in which of this nation is for these firms to do these horrible, terrible issues to the general public after which they get to simply wash their palms of it and stroll on and do it once more a few months later.”

The Bay Space Air High quality Administration District is engaged on a pc mannequin to find out how far contaminants might have unfold, which is predicted to assist focus the county’s soil sampling. In the meantime, the county has assembled an 11-member oversight committee — made up of residents, authorities officers and refinery representatives — that has interviewed a agency to conduct a danger evaluation that can embody a soil evaluation.

As soon as a contractor is chosen, soil sampling can start, in keeping with native officers. The lab outcomes are anticipated to be revealed by early to mid-summer, stated Lauren Sugayan, assistant metropolis supervisor and member of the oversight committee.

Nonetheless, residents imagine they’ll’t wait that lengthy. Bristow-Wendt, who lived in her home since 1998, started rising greens in her yard as a pastime throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, as grocery costs ballooned with inflation, she stated it quickly grew to become a necessity.

“It was like, ‘Are you kidding me? $3 for zucchini?’” Bristow-Wendt stated. “And I don’t see that altering any time quickly.”

Recognizing it will be months to get her soil examined, Bristow-Wendt took it upon herself to check it. She contacted the corporate that carried out the preliminary sampling of the metal-laden mud for the well being division and air district and located that soil in her backyard contained elevated ranges of aluminum.

Martinez residents have lengthy had a fraught relationship with the refinery, which produces gasoline, asphalt merchandise, and jet and diesel fuels. In October 2021, the refinery’s earlier proprietor, Shell Oil Merchandise USA, agreed to pay $433,000 to settle 44 notices of violation issued to the corporate for noncompliance with air high quality laws in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Martinez Refining bought the refinery from Shell in 2020.

In line with officers, issues started 4 days earlier than Thanksgiving, when the refinery skilled an “upset unit,” a malfunction that precipitated staff to pause operations. As refining ceased, they turned off emissions management mechanisms that reduce the quantity of particles launched from smokestacks.

When staff restarted operations, nonetheless, the emissions controls weren’t turned again on. Round 9:30 p.m. Thanksgiving evening, the smokestacks started releasing spent catalyst, which ends up from the breaking down of crude oil.

Within the wake of the discharge, the air district has issued a violation for public nuisance whereas the county well being division has referred two violations to the Contra County district legal professional’s workplace — one for failure to inform the right authorities of a hazardous materials launch and one for illicit discharges into the county stormwater system. The district legal professional’s workplace is reviewing the matter and can resolve whether or not to file prices within the coming months, spokesperson Ted Asregadoo stated.

A Martinez Refining spokesperson stated the corporate is cooperating with all authorities businesses and investigations surrounding the Nov. 24 launch. “Whereas this incident remains to be underneath investigation, now we have no additional remark right now,” they stated.

Along with bordering houses, the refinery is roughly 1,000 ft north of a ingesting water reservoir that serves the town. County officers say handled water is secure and has continued to fulfill federal ingesting water requirements. Any heavy metals in uncooked water, they are saying, are eliminated by therapy processes.

As residents press officers for solutions, they’ve additionally questioned the county and metropolis’s strategies of communication. Carlota Canari, who lives lower than half a mile south of the refinery together with her husband and three sons, wonders why the advice about refraining from consuming produce from native gardens wasn’t communicated by means of the group’s emergency alert system.

“How many individuals have already consumed the oranges or lemons and who is aware of what else they devour right now of the yr? Or what in the event that they develop greens? Asparagus, broccoli — you title it. I don’t know. There’s no solutions.”

Sugayan, the Martinez assistant metropolis supervisor, stated the town is speaking by means of an emailed e-newsletter, its web site and social media. And shortly, residents will probably be getting mailed updates on group conferences, which will probably be included with the water invoice.

Nonetheless, maybe the best predicament dealing with public officers is that conclusive proof of any contamination remains to be months away.

“We would like nothing greater than to scale back worry and anxiousness with solutions,” Sugayan stated. “However, because the well being division has stated, you need to observe the science. I perceive it’s actually powerful for the general public, however we’re doing every little thing we will to host group conferences, to agendize this and provides verbal updates.”