Refinery Fire Updates: Public Awaits Info on What Chemicals Were Released from Saturday's Blaze; MUSD Absences Jump; Ongoing Investigations
School district lost $13,000 in revenue from jump in absences Monday, though how many were related to fire was not clear; whatever happened to D.A. investigation from 2022?
Under intense pressure from the city and county officials, as well as the public, to release more detailed information about the possible health effects of last Saturday’s massive fire, PBF Energy’s Martinez refinery announced on its Facebook page late Friday that it has shared with Contra Costa Health “information requested regarding the products that were released or caught fire during the incident.”
However, when those details would be shared with the public remained unknown as of Saturday morning (check back to this post throughout the weekend for potential updates at martineznewsandviews.substack.com). Contra Costa Health had sent a letter to Martinez Refining Co. requesting that the information be turned over by Monday, Feb. 10.
In response to the refinery’s Facebook post that it had submitted the requested information to Contra Costa Health, Martinez Unified School District trustee Courtney Masella-O’Brien commented: “Publish it here.” Mayor Brianne Zorn replied to Masella-O’Brien’s comment Saturday morning, noting that the information had not yet been posted by Contra Costa Health.
Zorn confirmed in an email Saturday morning that she had not yet received the list.
The question of what materials burned during the fire, and which toxins were released into the air, took center stage at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, when health officials were unable to answer basic questions about potential health impacts based on the limited information that had been provided by the refinery in its 72-hour report about a fire that raged out of control for hours, triggering a shelter-in-place advisory.
“My biggest priority is to understand what health concerns there may be for our community right now in the immediate term,” Zorn said at the meeting.
She posed the question to Contra Costa Health Officer Dr. Ori Tzvieli, who responded, “The real answer is I don’t know. I don’t know what was burning and what was deposited in the soil and the water.”
Although county health officials have promised a more expedited investigation into this accident than occurred following the major “spent catalyst” release in November 2022, the immediate aftermath of the Feb. 1 incident has largely mirrored what occurred following the Thanksgiving night 2022 release, with many more questions than answers.
The refinery’s 72-hour report (which wasn’t released to the public until Wednesday afternoon) provided sparse details about the circumstances that led to the blaze and what was emitted in the black smoke that blanketed the surrounding community for hours. It referenced a “hydrocarbon” leak that occurred when “two workers were opening equipment at the refinery in preparation for planned maintenance on one of the refinery’s process units.” Though the report did not identify the specific process unit, refinery spokesman Brandon Matson, in response to a question from county Supervisor John Gioia at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, identified it as a “cat feed hydrotreater.”
A hydrocarbon is a general term for organic compounds that consist of carbon and hydrogen atoms. It can include many carcinogenic chemicals such as benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
The Martinez Refining Co. (MRC) report estimated that more than 500 pounds of sulfur dioxide were released during the fire. It said that none of its ground line or fence line monitoring of air quality produced contaminant readings “above typical background levels,” though the significance of those readings was unclear given that the black smoke from the fire towered far above the refinery and blew far into the community.
The refinery provided several additional updates on Friday, including that the California Department of Industrial Relations (Cal/OSHA) had restricted the fire scene to incident investigators under a preservation order. MRC also advised the public that the potential for flaring would continue the next several weeks “as operating units are drained and purged.” All of its operating units remain shut down, aside from required utility and environmental systems. Residents wishing to file claims with the refinery over the fire can do so by calling 1-800-542-7113. Community inquiries can be made by calling 1-925-313-3601.
As investigations start into Saturday’s fire, the question of what ever came of some of the investigations that followed the spent catalyst incident, and other hazardous materials releases from MRC that occurred throughout 2023, remains unanswered.
In January 2023, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office announced that it would investigate Martinez Refining Co. for failing to activate the Community Warning System (CWS) and notify health authorities of the Thanksgiving night “spent catalyst” release that spewed at least 20 tons of toxic dust into the community. But months passed with no word from the D.A. about the status of the investigation. Then, in November 2023, the D.A. and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) put out a new announcement that they were launching a “joint civil enforcement action” along with other regulatory agencies, including Contra Costa Health, into the ongoing issues at the refinery. That announcement also was followed by months of silence, with 2024 coming and go with no word on what, if any action, the agencies planned to take.
When I followed up with the D.A.’s Office in August 2023 about the status of the investigation into potential legal violations committed by the refinery from the spent catalyst release, a spokesperson said the office was awaiting an investigative report from BAAQMD that it would need to review before making a “charging decision.” When I followed up with BAAQMD on the matter, a spokesperson responded that the investigation was ongoing and that there “is no time limit in which the Air District is required to complete an investigation.”
Asked for comment last week on what became of these investigations and the later announced “joint civil enforcement action,” a spokesperson for BAAQMD responded: “The Air District remains dedicated to protecting air quality and public health and will continue working with our regulatory partners and the community to address concerns related to this incident. The Air District is already pursuing an enforcement case for MRC’s earlier violations in conjunction with the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s office. The Air District is coordinating with that office about incorporating these additional violations into the joint enforcement case.”
The D.A.’s slow-moving investigation into the refinery’s failure to notify the public about the 2022 spent catalyst release also had major implications for the independent investigation launched by Contra Costa Health, in conjunction with a community-involved oversight committee that it established, into the root causes of that release. While the independent contractor hired to investigate that incident had free rein to explore the events that led up to the release, he was prohibited by county health officials from addressing the refinery’s failure to activate the Community Warning System, because that matter was in the hands of the D.A. Supervisor Gioia, who sits on the board’s ad hoc committee that oversees the county’s Industrial Safety Ordinance and the Community Warning System, said at the time that the committee would review the operations of the CWS once the D.A. had completed its investigation and produced a report.
Gioia, who also sits on the BAAQMD Board of Directors, said Friday that he had spoken to the D.A. and was told that the two agencies “will soon be issuing a joint statement to update the public on the status of that ongoing investigation.”
Meanwhile, the Contra Costa County Civil Grand Jury also weighed in on the Community Warning System with a pair of reports last year, recommending various areas for improvement, including more resources for Contra Costa Health’s Hazardous Materials Program.
With the completion of the D.A.’s investigation still pending, the operation of the Community Warning System during the Feb. 1 fire has raised new questions. While CWS alerts went out soon after the fire was reported, it was initially categorized as a Level 2 incident in which only those with respiratory sensitivity were advised to remain indoors. It was only several hours later that it was elevated to a Level 3 incident that triggered a shelter-in-place advisory for the general public and more widespread alerts to the community. Some have questioned why an out-of-control fire, the potential impacts of which were impossible to know at the time it broke out, did not result in an immediate Level 3 shelter-in-place advisory.
Other questions about the operation of the Community Warning System have surfaced in the two-plus years between the spent catalyst release and the Feb. 1 fire, including during a significant coke dust release in July 2023 when refinery officials initially tried to reach Contra Costa Health staff twice by phone (once leaving a voicemail) before activating the CWS more than an hour after the release started. The refinery apparently tried to call the health department’s general information telephone line to make the report.
In the aftermath of the refinery’s failure to alert health officials and the public following the November 2022 release (the refinery said it was not aware of the release until it received community complaints the following day), Contra Costa Health CEO Anna Roth had said in a news release: "Our Hazardous Materials team responds quickly to these notices to ensure people have the information they need, when they need it, to take protective actions. We will work with residents of Martinez, city leaders and the facility on a transparent investigation into why that did not happen in this case."
The investigation into the spent catalyst release, completed more than a year after the incident, pinned its cause on inadequate training, worker fatigue and a failure to implement adequate safeguards. However, it never directly addressed the question of why the community and health department were not alerted immediately about the release (or possibility of a release), though the consultant, Scott Berger, who oversaw the investigation, noted in his final report that the refinery failed to properly train operators on the likelihood that excessive catalyst build-up would lead to a hazardous community release.
After repeated incidents at the refinery throughout 2023, including another one in which public notification through the CWS was lacking, CC Health launched a surprise inspection of the refinery in late 2023, with Roth issuing a sternly worded letter vowing that “CCH will not tolerate unsafe business practices at the refinery.”
Roth, who is stepping down as CCH’s executive director, has so far issued no similar statements in the wake of Saturday’s fire. With the Martinez community still awaiting answers to basic health questions that surfaced from the Feb. 1 fire, Contra Costa Health sent out a glowing news release on Friday announcing Roth’s impending departure from the agency after a “historic career.” It read in part: “A steadfast champion for health and addressing the needs of underserved communities, Ms. Roth will serve as president and CEO of Tahoe Forest Health System (TFHS) beginning in March.”
MUSD absences skyrocket after refinery fire
The Martinez Unified School District saw a significant jump in absences on Monday, Feb. 3, when a health advisory stemming from the fire remained in effect, Superintendent Helen Rossi reported in response to an inquiry from this newsletter. However, she noted that it was unknown how many of the absences stemmed from the fire, as Feb. 3 also marked "A Day Without Immigrants" in which many parents across the nation kept their immigrant children home from school to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
MUSD reported 405 absences on Feb. 3, far higher than the average of 212 for a typical Monday. As school funding is based in large measure on student attendance, Rossi said the increased absences would cost the district roughly $13,000 in revenue (the district is in the midst of a years-long budget crisis and is expected to detail major cuts to the 2025-26 budget at Monday’s school board meeting).
The fire also caused the school board to cut short its day-long workshop that was being held at the district offices on Susanna Street when the fire broke out. A dance planned at Alhambra High School that night was canceled, and a facility rental at Martinez Junior High School also was cut short.
Rossi said she sent the following message to school principals on Sunday night: “If there is still a community health advisory in effect for those with respiratory sensitivity tomorrow which covers all sites, please make arrangements to have supervision in either the Multi-Use Room or Commons at AHS for those that need to be indoors before school, at lunch and PE (may need library as well).”
Rossi added that no evidence of soot or other material from the fire was found at school sites, but out of caution, she arranged with the refinery for the sites to be thoroughly cleaned before students returned to school on Monday. “All six sites were cleaned with anti bacterial cleaner and powerwashed,” she said. “The jobs were completed by 7:30 p.m. Sunday evening.”
On a positive note, Rossi said she felt that the communication with the district on this incident was “spot on,” with refinery, county health and Martinez police all responding to her inquiries immediately.