Residents Slam Martinez Refining Co. at Supervisors, Council Meetings as Officials Seek Answers from Saturday's Fire

Questions abound about toxins released into the community, operation of Community Warning System, investigations, and when officials will say enough is enough to repeated mishaps

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By David Scholz and Craig Lazzeretti

The verbal fallout is in full swing in the wake of Saturday’s massive fire at PBF Energy’s Martinez Refining Co. (MRC), as community members, public officials and the refinery have all weighed in over the past two days at meetings of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors and the Martinez City Council.

At Tuesday’s supervisors meeting, public comments were kicked off by Martinez Mayor Brianne Zorn, surrounded by the City Manager Michael Chandler and Councilmembers Satinder S. Mahli and Jay Howard. Zorn put the onus for future action squarely on the county’s shoulders, noting the spate of refinery incidents that have plagued the community in recent years, culminating with Saturday’s blaze that raged out of control for hours and triggered a shelter-in-place advisory for the surrounding community.

Zorn laid out the actions the city undertook in the wake of the November 2022 spent catalyst release to step into “the void of communication and leadership in advocating for the community,” including establishing its own community notification system for emergencies such as refinery accidents. The spent catalyst release was followed by major flaring incidents and other releases of hazardous materials through much of 2023, before largely dissipating in 2024.

“The city did these things because we care about our residents, both in incorporated and unincorporated Martinez; we are concerned about the air we breathe, and we want to see change at the refinery,” Zorn told the supervisors. “The County Board of Supervisors has the authority and jurisdiction over MRC and the responsibility to force this much-needed change. Please: Take this responsibility seriously and protect the people that this refinery continues to put at risk.”

Zorn, along with several residents, also lobbied that Supervisor Shanelle Scales-Preston, who represents Martinez and is the newest member of the board, be appointed to the board’s Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO) Ad Hoc Committee, which is tasked with ensuring that refineries and other industrial facilities operate safely.

Scales-Preston was at the scene throughout the afternoon and evening on Saturday as first responders worked to bring the blaze under control. The Contra Costa County Warning System was initially activated as a Level 2 alert for the fire, advising those with respiratory sensitivity remain indoors, before being elevated to a Level 3 shelter-in-place for the surrounding community several hours later.

Alysia Gadde, a founding member of the community group Healthy Martinez, noted that it was “only by sheer luck that the wind pushed this toxic plume of smoke in the direction that it did.”

Suggesting “a clear pattern of negligence” Gadde called on the county and regulatory agencies to step up their enforcement and accountability of MRC.

“We are exhausted,” she said.

Scales-Preston, who has said she plans to host a town hall with the community in the near future, also attended Wednesday’s City Council meeting, expressing her commitment to a transparent investigation process.

Supervisor John Gioia added his endorsement for Preston to be appointed to the ISO ad hoc committee to ensure that communities impacted by situations like the one at MRC are properly represented as the process unfolds.

Following reports by Contra Costa Health and county fire officials on the fire, MRC spokesman Brandon Matson took the mic to give supervisors an update.

In response to a question from Gioia regarding the unit where the fire ignited, Matson said it was the cat feed hydrotreater, which had been brought down two days earlier, on Jan. 30, in preparation for planned maintenance. A cat feed hydrotreater is a process used in refining to remove sulfur and other impurities from feedstock through catalytic conversion in a hydrogen-rich environment at high temperatures and pressures.

“All the specifics will come out in the investigation, but it was during that time that the leak started,” he said, noting that the fire ignited shortly thereafter.

“It was a vapor leak, or liquid leak?” Gioia asked.

“Let’s see what comes out in the investigation on specifics. There is a lot of information to collect on various specifics,” Matson responded.

In its required 72-hour report on the fire filed with Contra Costa Health, the refinery said two workers were opening equipment in preparation for planned maintenance “when hydrocarbon material” started to leak.

“The two workers immediately evacuated the area, and the material subsequently caught fire, which spread within the immediate vicinity.”

Both workers were taken to a medical facility for treatment and released, according to the report.

Saturday’s fire as seen from the Parkside development near Mountain View Park.

Along with the air quality concerns, the potential contamination of drinking water and whether vegetables from gardens can be eaten were addressed by the representatives of Contra Costa Health during the supervisors meeting and at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. City Manager Michael Chandler said test results of the city’s drinking water at its ozone treatment facility after the fire showed no health concerns.

Contra Costa County Health Officer Dr. Ori Tzvieli told the City Council it was too early to know exactly what toxins had been deposited from the fire in the soil and water, but his expectation was that it would be “significantly less impactful” than the 2022 spent catalyst release, which dumped at least 20 tons of dust laced with heavy metals on surrounding communities.

Tzvieli, however, also made the point Wednesday that the health effects from Saturday’s fire ran deeper than any toxics that spread into the community — there is also the mental toll of the fear and anxiety the latest accident caused. Some residents reported being so frightened for their safety that they self-evacuated and spent the night in hotels.

Supervisors and county health representatives also discussed Tuesday when the first warning to the community went out and whether the public could have been made aware sooner.

Scales-Preston cited times of 10:56 a.m., 11:06 a.m. and 1:05 p.m. when odor complaints were made to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, but the county was first notified of a problem at the refinery at 1:49 p.m. when MRC activated the Level 2 alert through the Community Warning System.

Supervisor Ken Carlson asked whether the air district should have communicated with county health officials when it received the odor complaints. It is unclear, however, whether the odor complaints received earlier in the day were connected to the events that triggered the fire.

Matt Kaufmann, Contra Costa Health’s deputy health director, opened his remarks Tuesday by reminding everyone that the community warning system’s activation for health advisories occurs when there is a “health impact to either our sensitive receptors, primarily those with respiratory, or the general public.”

By 2:32 p.m., Kaufmann noted that the Level 2 health warming area for those with respiratory issues was expanded to a wider area based on the smoke and conditions they were seeing. A related observation in the area north and northeast of the refinery site was that the smoke was not going as high. This was due to the amount of water that crews were using to cool the fire, forcing the smoke closer to the ground.

After consulting with health officers, it was decided to increase the incident to a Level 3. This prompted sirens to go off in areas northeast of the refinery every 30 minutes, which continued until 9:12 p.m., and automatic phone calls and alerts to be sent to the surrounding community, notifying them of a shelter-in-place advisory.

However, Cathy Ivers, a 40-year resident of the city and former public affairs representative with the refinery when it was owned by Shell, told both the county supervisors on Tuesday and the Martinez City Council on Wednesday that she believed, based on her professional experience responding to toxic releases, that a Level 3 shelter-in-place alert should have been made immediately.

“The biggest question I have is why did it take three hours before some members of the community were notified,” she said Wednesday. “It was a Level 3 from the get-go. There were off-site impacts from the get-go.”

Resident Jillian Elliott, who is disabled, described experiencing burning and running eyes during the fire and difficulty breathing. “As I was getting ready to evacuate, my chest was tight, and I was afraid I was having another heart attack,” she told the council.

Elliott was among a number of residents at both meetings who said they were fed up with the string of incidents and accidents at the refinery starting with the 2022 spent catalyst release. “We are done with selling our health and safety so cheaply. The refinery needs to be safe or shut down,” she said. “They have proven they can’t keep us safe.”

Resident Meghan Ketsdever, who also spoke at both meetings, said Wednesday that allowing the refinery to continue operating as is after two years of incidents endangering public health was akin to allowing a restaurant to continue operating that continues to sicken its customers.

“This is a toxic relationship,” she told the council. “What do you tell people in a toxic relationship? You tell them to leave.”

Kaufmann said the 72-hour report issued by the refinery didn’t include details on exactly what toxic materials burned in the fire, and it was seeking clarity on that question. He also said he expected an independent root cause investigation into the fire to take place much more quickly than was the case after the spent catalyst release.

“We are committed to expediting that process,” he said, adding that lessons learned from the delays that plagued the previous investigation would be applied in this case.

Refinery spokesperson Matson also spoke at both meetings, telling the council that he was under “no illusion that anything I say will alleviate” the anger expressed by community members. He pledged cooperation and transparency in the investigating process, despite the fact that the refinery has released few specific details about the fire and what toxins were released into the community since Saturday. Matson said the refinery continued to be in a “response phase” to the fire.

Refinery Manager Daniel Ingram, who has been a regular presence at City Council meetings the past two years updating officials on the refinery’s operations and safety efforts, has yet to address the fire publicly.

An official from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District also spoke at Wednesday’s council meeting, noting that the agency had issued two notices of violations against the refinery stemming from Saturday’s fire for creating a public nuisance, excessive smoke and soot fallout.

The air district is among several local and regional agencies that have repeatedly cited, investigated and fined the refinery for various violations in recent years. PBF Energy has regularly addressed the various fines, violations and investigations at its Martinez refinery in corporate filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, telling investors under a section titled “Legal Proceedings” that that none of them are expected to have “a material impact on our financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.”