Blanket of ash upends decades of goodwill in the refinery town of Martinez

Martinez has long been a refinery town. Generations have worked at the sprawling complex on the east side of the city that defines the skyline.

For more than a century, to live in Martinez, a town of 36,000 sitting beside the bay, has been to co-exist with the silver smoke stacks of heavy industry. The risks go along with the fun runs the oil refinery hosts and its sponsorship of the Chamber of Commerce.

But after the refinery dumped 20 tons of heavy-metal laden dust on surrounding neighborhoods in November, covering lawns and gardens with a fine white silt, some residents think that relationship has shifted. Perhaps for good.

“I think it’s fair to say that there is a new relationship, and we’re basically having to reestablish that relationship,” said Brianne Zorn, who was sworn in as mayor in December. “We need to make sure they’re not just paying for our events but that they’re a partner in making sure Martinez is a healthy and safe place to live.”

The shift in public perception started last November when ash from Martinez Refining Co., a subsidiary of independent petroleum giant PBF Energy, fell on the city’s neighborhoods the day after Thanksgiving. The company assured residents the dust was non-toxic, non-hazardous and “naturally occurring” spent-catalyst dust from the refining process. It offered free car washes.

Within the week, the county health department alerted residents, reporting the sand contained aluminum, barium and chromium — heavy metals linked to nausea, vomiting, respiratory issues and more.

Yet it wasn’t until March that the Contra Costa Health Department issued an alert: Don’t eat from your gardens until the soil is fully tested.

Finally, at the beginning of June, following months of stress and anguish among worried residents, health officials announced they were confident that the ash-laden soil in Martinez was safe.

The results were, inarguably, a welcome development for those who had been living under a health advisory since March. But at least for some, the results of the soil testing marked a new beginning, rather than a conclusion.

In what may ultimately define the legacy of the spent-catalyst release, a growing number of civically engaged, activism-oriented residents, galvanized by the events, are using this moment to redefine the city’s relationship with the refinery next door and push for a healthier city.

“I’m grateful the soil came out safe, but that’s not the end of the issue,” said Jillian Elliot, a Martinez resident and member of Healthy Martinez, a grassroots refinery accountability group that blossomed in the wake of the spent-catalyst release. “I think it’s the start of a lot of people taking these concerns seriously.”

Healthy Martinez started as a group of five friends who connected on Facebook in the aftermath of the spent-catalyst release. At the time, they just wanted to make sense of what happened and how they should respond. In the months since their neighborhoods were blanketed with the layer of white dust, the group has ballooned to roughly 100 people. Some, but not all, have moved to the city recently and are dissatisfied with the status quo. They’ve started a website. They send a representative to every city oversight meeting.

Now the group is flexing its newfound organizing power to push for stronger safety standards for the refinery. They’ve issued five demands that include the installation of a wet gas scrubber that would reduce daily emissions from the facility and reimbursement for the city and county expenses related to the spewed silt.

To Elliot and the members of Healthy Martinez, the results of the soil sample feel more like a dodged bullet — not an assurance of safety.

“Lets be real. What happened on Thanksgiving night could happen again at any time,” said Heidi Taylor, another member of Healthy Martinez. “That’s the reality that we live in every single day.”

If anything, the group said the spent-catalyst release has made clear Martinez Refinery creates risk that must have oversight. They point to multiple flaring events and spills in the past six months since the release. Additionally, the refinery is the subject of an investigation involving the FBI and the EPA.