It was the morning after Thanksgiving when residents within the Bay Space metropolis of Martinez awoke to seek out their houses, automobiles and yards blanketed by a mysterious pale residue.
Though the dusting resembled ash, there have been no wildfires burning close by. When residents referred to as native authorities, they discovered nothing.
However then, greater than a month later, the Contra Costa County Well being Division revealed a two-page discover informing residents that the “white mud” was a hazardous materials launched by the Martinez Refining Co. on the northern fringe of the town.
The well being advisory informed residents to contact well being suppliers in the event that they had been experiencing coughing or issue respiratory, and that the well being division advisable not consuming meals grown in soil that was uncovered to the fabric.
In the present day, residents of this tight-knit neighborhood 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 laborious to get solutions.
Whereas the county has launched an investigation into why the refinery didn’t subject 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 an preliminary Jan. 11 well being discover was seen by too few folks, and that it wasn’t till a second discover was issued March 7 that folks realized they shouldn’t be consuming fruit from their timber or greens from their backyard.
“Not solely have I been feeding that to my husband, my son and myself, but in addition to my 90-year-old mom,” mentioned Penny Bristow-Wendt, who lives a mile south of the refinery. “Why weren’t we notified sooner?”
Check samples of the residue revealed such metals as aluminum, barium, chromium, nickel, vanadium and zinc. The testing, nonetheless, didn’t distinguish which sorts of chromium had been detected, which may very well be an vital 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 probably the most vital well being dangers had been short-term respiratory results from inhaling the air pollution over the 2 days it was launched, and that critical well being issues are typically related to long-term publicity to excessive concentrations of the fabric.
They mentioned their alerts had been issued out of an abundance of warning.
“It’s type of a tough steadiness since you don’t need to unnecessarily scare folks,” mentioned Dr. Ori Tzvieli, the county well being officer. “However we additionally don’t need to falsely reassure folks. We need to simply say, let’s see what the outcomes say after which we’ll have extra info for you then.”
Such statements have completed 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 mentioned throughout a latest public listening to. “It’s prison. And we actually have to 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 house.
“That is horrendously late info to say, ‘Hey, perhaps you shouldn’t be consuming your greens,’ ” he mentioned. “How do we all know that [the refinery] goes to have any sort of accountability? It simply looks like the best way of this nation is for these companies to do these horrible, terrible issues to the general public after which they get to only 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 could have unfold, which is anticipated 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 may embody a soil evaluation.
As soon as a contractor is chosen, soil sampling can start, in accordance with native officers. The lab outcomes are anticipated to be revealed by early- to mid-summer, in accordance with Lauren Sugayan, assistant metropolis supervisor and member of the oversight committee.
Nonetheless, residents felt as if they will’t wait that lengthy. Bristow-Wendt, who lived in her home since 1998, started rising greens in her yard as a pastime in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, as grocery costs ballooned with inflation, she mentioned it quickly grew to become a necessity.
“It was like, ‘Are you kidding me? $3 for zucchini?’” Bristow-Wendt mentioned. “And I don’t see that altering any time quickly.”
Recognizing it could 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 rules in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Martinez Refining bought the refinery from Shell in 2020.
In keeping with officers, issues started 4 days earlier than Thanksgiving, when the refinery skilled an “upset unit” — a malfunction that brought about employees to pause operations. As refining ceased, they turned off emissions management mechanisms that reduce the quantity of particles launched from smokestacks.
When employees restarted operations nonetheless, the emissions controls weren’t turned again on. Round 9:30 p.m. Thanksgiving night time, the smokestacks started releasing spent catalyst, which ends 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 determine whether or not to file prices within the coming months, spokesperson Ted Asregadoo mentioned.
A Martinez Refining spokesperson mentioned the corporate is cooperating with all authorities companies and investigations surrounding the Nov. 24 launch. “Whereas this incident remains to be beneath investigation, we’ve no additional remark presently,” they mentioned.
Along with bordering houses, the refinery is roughly 1,000 toes north of a ingesting water reservoir that serves the town. County officers say handled water is secure and has continued to satisfy 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 along 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 neighborhood’s emergency alert system.
“How many individuals have already consumed the oranges or lemons and who is aware of what else they eat presently 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, mentioned the town is speaking by means of an emailed publication, its web site and social media. And shortly, residents will likely be getting mailed updates on neighborhood conferences, which will likely be included with the water invoice.
Nonetheless, maybe the best dilemma going through public officers is that conclusive proof of any contamination remains to be months away.
“We would like nothing greater than to cut back concern and anxiousness with solutions,” Sugayan mentioned. “However, because the well being division has mentioned, you need to comply with the science. I perceive it’s actually powerful for the general public, however we’re doing every little thing we are able to to host neighborhood conferences, to agendize this and provides verbal updates.”
