Petroleum coke dust was released by the Martinez Refining Company at its refinery Friday morning but Contra Costa Health investigators have not found any visible impacts to the surrounding community.
The county health department issued an alert at about 11:30 a.m. on social media about the release of the coke dust.
The release has since stopped. The county’s hazardous materials team responded and did not find any visible coke dust in the surrounding area.
The Martinez Refining Company notified the county health department that the release “was an isolated incident related to maintenance at the facility,” CCH officials wrote on social media.
The refinery in July previously reported the release of coke dust, a byproduct of the petroleum refining process, that collected on cars, garbage cans and other surfaces in the neighborhoods around the refinery. Laboratory analysis of the dust found it didn’t contain high levels of toxic metals, CCH officials said.
The Martinez Refining Company faced scrutiny from the county after releasing tons of spent catalyst last November but not reporting it promptly to the county, whose investigators found out about the release days later from media reports.
11 comments
Can almost bet there’s an unelected bureaucrat salivating,
trying to conjure up a large dollar amount to fund some pet projects.
.
Four million dollar fine for steel mill in Pittsburg a few years back,
fleecing of a deep pocket, same mill closing down for good by end of the year.
Lasting damage to Contra Costa economy will be significant
So what consequences do you propose? The previous managers of the refinery went years without incidents. The new owners have an accident almost every month.
After every catastrophe people people look around at the wreckage and loss of life and say, “if only there were some warning sign”…well here you go.
There are a lot of contractors from Texas and Oklahoma working there. I have a feeling the plant documentation is not being followed or flawed. There have been way too many accidents there since MRC purchased it.
This is absolutely not true. I work there every day. I am an employee of the refinery. There is a small turnaround going on right now. It is primarily staffed by local unions and local building trades. The only time you get workers from out of state is during the very large events. And I’m not really sure what difference does it make Texas or Oklahoma workers are here. Are you insinuating that they are less safe and less skilled in the workers?
Not insinuating anything. I know firsthand based on speaking to them. I only stating the possible reason why these issues are now occurring. Please shed some light on why this refinery is having so many problems lately. I live on Brown St. (right down the street from MRC) and would love to hear your opinion.
So that’s where all the homeless drug addicts went too!
.
Mirrors n razor blades?
.
It’s coke dust….. has anyone ever ridden a steam train fueled by coal? the stuff goes everywhere, doesn’t seem to hurt anything. Not saying they should release it and their safety systems may need some upgrades but it is just ashy dust, we likely eat more hazardous stuff on a dry windy day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coke_(fuel)
If they are incapable of stopping non-hazardous pollution, then they are incapable of stopping hazardous pollution too.
This refinery is out of control and I’d bet that none of the people defending the refinery actually have to live by it.
Regulatory capture…period.
So it sounds like fun but it isn’t?
Comments are closed.