Residents, health officials fed up with latest flaring incident at Martinez refinery
MARTINEZ – Contra Costa County health officials and Martinez residents said they're fed up with yet another flaring on Friday at the Martinez Refining Company.
The release sent a foul odor into the air. County officials said the smell irritated people who live as far away as Crockett, which is about 11 miles away.
Health officials said they received the notification from the refinery on Friday morning at about 9:15 a.m. They later elevated the flaring to a level 2 incident on their community warning system. There are a total of three levels.
Contra Costa County health officials sent an advisory to neighbors asking them to stay indoors if the smell was too strong for them.
"It smelled like rotten eggs," described Stan, who declined to provide his last name.
"It was a gas-like smell," said neighbor Carey, who also declined to give his last name.
"It's kind of that sulfur, rotten egg sort of thing," said neighbor Debbie Sittser.
Sittser lives a block away from the Martinez Refining Company.
She noticed more flaring and releases from the refinery in the last couple of years.
"It felt like a small earthquake. It was a rumbling, kind of a rolling kind of thing. It went for a minute or so, and then it stopped, then it went again," described Sittser.
She said unlike previous flaring incidents, her windows did not shake this time.
Other neighbors reported similar shaking on Friday morning to the health department.
"It's not just today, it's the cumulative of 'here we go again.' What kind of damage might this be doing to my house and my health?" asked Sittser.
Contra Costa County Health Director Dr. Ori Tzvieli said he too was frustrated and fed up. They're trying to figure out why the repeated flaring from the same company.
"The health department is very concerned that these incidents are continuing to happen. In a properly functioning refinery, there should not be regular flaring, there should not be releases," said Dr. Tzvieli.
Health officials said the Martinez Refining Company has released dust into the air multiples times. The worst incident was on Thanksgiving Day of last year when white dust rained on homes and cars.
Officials said the white dust contained heavy metals. At the time, they asked people to not eat food from their gardens.
Tzvieli didn't believe Friday's incident would cause any major health problems.
"For the more sensitive populations, it can give you sort of a headache and an irritated feeling," said Dr. Tzvieli.
The Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District have already opened an investigation into the company for the previous releases.
"It needs to stop. Either they need to be shut down and go and somebody else move in, or they really need to be seriously held accountable. They need fines that are going to hurt," said Sittser.
The flaring continued into Friday evening. CBS News Bay Area reached out to the Martinez Refining Company for a comment and to see if there's an estimate as to when the flaring will stop but did not hear back by press time.
