The owner of the Delaware City refinery is in hot water with a northern California county which claims a failure to report the release of dust containing metals.
Contra Costa Health formally requested that the District Attorney consider taking legal action against the Martinez Refining Company for not notifying the county when the refinery released more than 20 tons of metal-laden dust into the community over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Accordng to the department, samples of the dust taken later showed it had elevated levels of aluminum and other metals, which which can respiratory issues.
The refinery, owned by PBF Energy, is located in the East Bay area near Oakland.
PBF purchased the refinery from Shell a few years ago for about $1 billion. The Martinez refinery is one of two owned by PBF in California. The other is in the southern part of the state. After acquiring the Delaware City site, PBF has been snapping up smaller refineries from companies like Shell and ExxonMobil.
“It is unacceptable that the refinery did not notify County Health Services of their chemical release and that the County learned about it through the media,” said John Gioia, chair of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors. “By failing to notify the county in a timely manner, the refinery delayed an emergency response that could have reduced harm to the surrounding community.”
In a separate move, the county health department is also recommending an independent investigation and risk assessment be done of the accidental release of spent catalyst from the refinery. The Martinez refinery is now undergoing maintenance.
PBF’s Delaware refinery is required to report incidents to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, which issues community notifications.
New Jersey-based PBF has paid fines over the years, mainly for excess emissions of sulfur dioxide, a product of the refining process. The emissions typically come from a failure of equipment.