Health officials want to crack down on Martinez Refinery after another flaring

MARTINEZ, Calif. - The "rotten egg" odor caused by chemicals like sulfur in the air on Friday is giving rise to complaints from people all over the East Bay and leaving health officials concerned.

"We as Martinez residents do not feel safe where we live," said Justin Gomez. 

The refinery reported a flare starting at 9:15 a.m. Friday. Hazmat officials investigated and elevated the flare from a Level 1 to a Level 2 incident, calling for warnings to the public to stay indoors. 

"My whole house rumbles when it happens, you can hear it in the background, it’s very loud," said Anna Encarnacion, who is a member of the Healthy Martinez Refinery Accountability Group.

While the Contra Costa County Health Department said most people won’t be affected. They warned people with respiratory sensitivity might get headaches and eye, skin, nose or throat irritation. In the health department’s advisory, they wrote in a community alert, "If people experience any irritation, advise them to go inside and rinse any irritated area of their body with water."

"Our advice for people who are more sensitive to the smell is to stay indoors, close the windows and doors, and if you have a HEPA filter, please run it. It can remove these smells from the air," said Dr. Ori Tzvieli, the Public Health Director for Contra Costa County.

Encarnacion said she was worried about her kids' safety at Las Juntas Elementary, one mile from the refinery.

"My 10-year-old; I actually pulled out of school today because of the flaring. When I called the school and asked what their protocol was, they said that they rely on the district and the district relies on the refinery," she said, which allowed kids to stay outside as long as they did not have any "sensitivities."

"At this time, the team has gone out and taken readings at various points in Martinez, including at different elementary schools," said Nicole Heath, director of the county’s HAZMAT program.

The health department said the levels were low by mid-morning Friday, but the flaring and warnings continued throughout the day, and they would continue to monitor and update the public. The all-clear was given just before 6 p.m. on Friday.

The refinery, currently involved in a class action lawsuit for reasons like this, issued a statement saying in part, "We apologize for any inconvenience to our neighbors. Flares are an essential part of a refinery’s integrated, engineered safety systems designed to safely manage excess combustible gases by burning them off efficiently and effectively."

In their statement, they also shared, "Flaring is occurring at the Martinez Refinery that may be visible and audible offsite due to an operational incident. Additionally, increased steam from the refinery may be visible, and we are conducting community monitoring to follow up on odor complaints and are actively looking for the source in the refinery. All appropriate agencies have been notified, and we are working to address these issues."

"In a properly functioning refinery, this should not be regular flaring. There should not be releases of catalyst and coke dust to the community as we have seen," said Tzvieli. "Everyone probably remembers Thanksgiving 2022, release of spent catalyst which was investigated, and the investigation and further action were referred to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office, but since then there have been multiple flaring incidents and the health department has been very concerned of these ongoing events."

Shell sold the refinery in 2020 and that's when neighbors said problems started.

"I’ve been here for 11 years and with the shell refinery, we never had these kinds of incidences. I never had flaring. I never even thought about the refinery," said Encarnacion.

Gomez agreed, saying, "It’s just kind of unnerving. We’ve been in this community for years and we never felt this until PBF Company took the reins and Martinez Refining Company seemingly wants to be a good neighbor while actively being a bad neighbor."

The health department reports there's been an increase in flaring with the last Level 2 flare just last month. This is the seventh Level 2 flaring incident in 20 years, according to health department records.

"I feel like we get an alert for flaring every month," said Gomez.

"Generally, they should not be released," said Tzvieli. "When they’re released and flared off like this, that means there’s a process upset in the refinery. We don’t know what that is. We have asked the refinery for a report on what caused this problem, but we’re very concerned."

At the next city council meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 20, residents plan to mobilize for public comment. 

In Level 1 incidents, the public may not always be notified as they require minimum HAZMAT response with low chemical readings. In Level 2 incidents, the general public will not be affected, but those with respiratory sensitivity should be cautious and stay indoors. In Level 3 incidents, residents are advised to shelter in place.

"We will be working with the refinery to understand why this happened to see what can be done to ensure that it doesn’t happen again," said Heath.

As normal protocol dictates, the refinery will have to deliver a 72-hour report to the health department. Depending on the cause of the flare, it could result in a fine. Health officials said they will be having ongoing conversations with the facility and further action will be taken.