photo credit: Contra Costa Health Department
The following letter is from Martinez City Councilmember Satinder S. Malhi:
I am deeply disappointed and quite frankly, downright angry upon learning of yet another potentially hazardous release by the Martinez Refining Company (MRC), the second incident to have occurred in less than a year.
As someone who grew up in Martinez, at times in the shadow of the refinery, I share the frustrations and demands for accountability by our residents. For months, we have patiently waited for the appropriate regulatory bodies to complete their investigations of the November 2022 incident while at the same time receiving what now appears to have been false reassurances by MRC that they had taken corrective steps to avoid any further occurrences.
Martinez has been a refinery town for well over a century and many of our residents moved here with that knowledge, my own family included. While our community has grown and flourished throughout this time, what has not changed is the need and obligation for the refinery to be a good corporate citizen and neighbor. The refinery has and continues to support many of our cherished community organizations for which we are enormously grateful, but that can not and should not absolve them of their responsibility to put safety first.
Therefore, it is my sincere hope that Contra Costa County Health (CCH) and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), along with the additional agencies investigating the November 2022 incident which also includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office, will move in an expeditious and thorough manner to hold MRC accountable to the greatest extent permitted under both civil and criminal law in order to protect the future health and well-being of our residents.
Following the November incident, the City of Martinez took the added and unprecedented step of creating its own notification system in response to the failure by MRC to notify the appropriate regulatory bodies that there had been a potentially hazardous release as is required by law. Under the leadership of Chief Andrew White, the Martinez Police Department launched an emergency mass notification system known as “Martinez Alerts” which notified nearly 15,000 residents of yesterday’s incident with instructions on how to opt-in for additional alerts moving forward. Although it is still in its initial stages, the City welcomes any and all constructive feedback to further improve its notification processes. To learn more, please visit www.cityofmartinez.org/alerts
Satinder S. Malhi
Councilmember, District 3
City of Martinez
16 comments
Mr Malhi, so your answer to the problem is to add more regulatory bodies to get to the problem? You have waited for months to find out what happened in the last release. Yet you want to add more,Typical bureaucrat response.
I stopped reading that after 4th line, live near a refinery you expected a different scenario?
Refineries spew garbage 365 days a year. It’s accepted and will continue. Hold them accountable you’re better off to move..
Corporate abuses only become accepted when people stop speaking up – when people roll over a dozen take it – which you seem more than willing to do.
The pollution by the refinery has rapidly increased in both regularity and size. Your solution is that people should just shut up and move away?
You’re so misguided. You believe everything the media tells you.
The oil industry has powerful lobbyists. Not that that’s news to anyone. Same with the rail industry that fights safety regulation despite numerous accidents. I wonder if we have dangerous chemicals being transported on the local contra costa railways. Hmmm
When I was in my early 20’s I lived across from the refinery for 4 years. Things like this didn’t happen. I have friends and former co-workers that have lived near the refinery for years. From 1982 until Shell sold a couple of years ago there was only one major release incident. Since the new company has taken over it seems there is an incident every couple of months. This refinery needs a major EPA equipment and operations audit.
As an proud American that loves his country all I have to say is if your worried about some harmless chemicals in the air then move to Cuba. Progress comes at a cost, gotta crack a few eggs.
You think they are referring to harmless chemicals? Are you volunteering to breathe them in? If your neighbor was exposing you to hazardous waste you would smile and thank them for the opportunity to experience some more wonderful progress?
“yet another potentially hazardous release” This kind of generalization is rather annoying. Was it hazardous or not? Was it only potential because safeguards already in place prevented the hazardous aspect? Would/could it be more appropriate to state that due to mandates of systems being put into place, hazardous release (or hazardous level) of coke dust during an event occurring at the refinery was prevented?
The material that was released was coke dust. Same material that is the dust in a bag of charcoal. Pour out some briquets into your Weber. See the dust? Same thing. Look at the MSDS for the product. Think for yourselves and don’t believe the media.
Time to close that refinery and make them pay billions to clean up the pollution underneath the refinery.
They are a TERRIBLE neighbor, constantly lying, and releasing disinformation. They don’t follow safety standards, so shut them down.
Sure thing! Since California has an overabundence of electricity, go ahead and shut down all the refineries. Let me know how that works out for you.
We do actually have a surplus.
After every big disaster, meltdown, spill, etc, people say “If only there had been some sign.” Well here’s your sign.
This guy writes this as he drives his car to work and back. Probably drinks his iced coffee from a plastic cup (made from products produced in a refinery) and sits in an air conditioned office. Courtesy of electricity from generators fired by hydrocarbons. From, you guessed it……a refinery.
Hmmmm……must be getting close to election time again.
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