‘A disturbing new normal’: Why have chemical releases at Martinez refinery continued?

The day before the local high school’s homecoming parade last week, the Martinez Refining Company posted on Facebook wishing students a happy homecoming. But just 24 hours later, the refinery quite literally cast a black cloud over the event. At 11 a.

m. on Friday, October 6, an ominous plume of black dust bellowed up from the Martinez Refining Company and floated into the city’s downtown. Related Articles In a series of events that have begun to seem unnervingly familiar, the Contra Costa County health department sent out a notification that they had “deployed a hazardous materials team.

” The refinery posted on Facebook, apologizing for a “brief release of Coke dust,” a black charcoal-like substance created during the refining process. Eventually, the county health department said that the parade should be cleared to proceed as planned and that they had “not found evidence of any immediate risk” to the community. It was only the latest in a series of chemical releases that now seem to come on a nearly monthly basis, and the third coke dust event since July.

“It’s a disturbing new normal,” said Heidi Taylor, a founding member of Healthy Martinez, a refinery accountability group. “I am not going to live in a world where black dust on my property, my animals, my cars is just normal. ” The saga began last year on Thanksgiving night, when residents woke up to a layer of fine white silt on their cars, garbage cans, and window sills.

The Martinez Refining Company, whose sprawling campus defines the east side of the city, said the release was “non-toxic,” “non-hazardous”, and “naturally occurring” spent catalyst dust used in the refining process. Only days later did the County Health Department alert residents that the sand contained harmful metals like aluminum, chromium, and barium. Over the past year, there have been several other releases from the refinery, although none as harmful or widespread as the incident in November.

The County Health Department and the refinery have both talked about earning trust, and the health department held a public meeting to help facilitate that just weeks before this most recent event. But to concerned residents, the release on Friday shows that the same fundamental issue remains unresolved. In their view, the community’s health is being used as a stand-in for an effective early warning system as releases continue.

“Here’s the problem: the community members, we are the warning system,” Taylor said. “We are the ones saying, ‘oh my god, there is dust on their cars’. What kills me is that’s not our job.

” Although the Friday coke dust release was classified as a Level 1 in the Community Warning System, meaning that no off-site health impacts are expected, posts on social media contradicted that categorization. Cady Masterman, a mother and Martinez resident, said she found black dust covering her child’s stroller shortly after the release. “My husband sent me a picture of black dust specks on the stroller,” said Masterman, a four year resident of Martinez.

“An MRC representative and a Contra Costa HazMat representative came to our house and said the dust is carbon, non-toxic. Either way, I’m going to scrub the stroller as if it’s dangerous. ” Contra Costa County Health had not replied to a request for comment by press time.

Although both the refinery and the health department have described the petroleum coke dust as non-hazardous, the EPA has expressed concerns about the health effects of the substance, especially in small particles. “It’s ironic, it’s disgusting, it’s all sorts of adjectives,” Taylor said. “And it’s just not acceptable.

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