MARTINEZ – Tensions flared red-hot at a town hall Thursday night, where residents accosted the Martinez Refining Company’s history of fires, flarings and leaks in their city, including three major mishaps within the last three years.
Dozens of community members gathered at John Muir Elementary School to hear the latest updates about the massive fire that erupted Feb. 1 at the refinery and released more than 7,000 gallons of hydrocarbon materials into the air — reportedly the first time that the county executive overseeing Contra Costa’s northern shoreline has organized a community meeting after a hazardous refining incident.
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Supervisor Shanelle Scales-Preston, who was elected to the District 5 seat in Nov. 2024, was joined by Nicole Heath, the hazardous materials director for the county’s health department, and other local health, emergency response and utilities officials to co-present the positive news so far: the local water supply is safe to drink, no chemicals were detected in soil samples and final toxicology reports about air quality are expected soon.
However, dozens of residents said that a lack of transparency from oil executives over the years has chipped away the community’s trust in regulatory and elected leaders’ assurances. That concern compounds, they said, when factoring in past problems with refinery alert protocols and the county’s opt-in Community Warning System, which was the subject of an ominous Contra Costa County Civil Grand Jury report in June.
After a decade living in the city, Elizabeth Butler said Martinez Refining Company’s past promises were lies, and that she fears there’s no way the public can ensure that the business is actually doing anything to prevent the next disaster.
“Clearly, the refinery does not care about any of the penalties associated with their violations if these types of situations keep happening,” Butler said during Thursday evening’s Q&A. “What if there was an explosion? Martinez would be gone.”
Refinery manager Daniel Ingram said the company is cooperating with all investigations into what went awry last month. He said the Martinez Refining Company will continue to prioritize safety for onsite workers, including the 60% who call Contra Costa County home.
“The day of the fire, we literally opened the doors to the refinery,” Ingram said Thursday. “We don’t have anything to hide in any of these situations ever — we will be fully open and transparent.”
Butler, who’s lived in the city for the past decade, said her daughter’s grown apprehensive about being enrolled at Martinez Junior High “because every time that refinery flares, that flame looks like it’s on the front step of the school.”
She wasn’t the only attendee on Thursday to suggest a tax on barrels of oil flowing out of the Martinez Refinery Company, which she said could generate revenues for community services related to the refinery’s impact on the community, ranging from mental health care and school improvements to cancer treatments and toxicology screenings.
“If they care about the community, all of that tax money could go into paying for those things,” she said.
FILE PHOTO — The Martinez Refining Company released ‘coke dust’ into nearby neighborhoods the second week of July. A second release, which did not leave the site, occurred on July 23. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
While representatives may not always have answers, Scales-Preston said community events like Thursday’s roughly two-hour, late-night discussion are “important to have a peace of mind.”
While investigations, reports and facility audits may be slow-moving, she said that’s the only way for local health, emergency and hazmat staff to ensure that the root cause of the fire and any lingering issues are corrected. She said one of her motivations was to create a more welcoming, accessible outlet for constituents to be involved in local refinery oversight — tapping her experience organizing Congressional meetings in Washington D.C. prior to the November election.
“I felt like the community needed to have something for them, where they’re able to express themselves, and their voices can be heard,” Scales-Preston said in an interview Friday, explaining how county-level meetings regarding refinery operations are typically mid-day, and offer limited opportunity for dialogue. “I’ve heard that there’s just not been a lot of transparency, so I’m trying to look at ways I can do something different than what was done in the past.”
Jillian Elliott moved to Martinez three years ago, looking for a place to heal after two heart attacks and three heart surgeries.
Shortly after plumes of black smoke erupted from the refinery, she said she started feeling a burning sensation in her chest and had trouble breathing — pains that she said were exasperated by county warning system mishaps and the history of problems from the Martinez Refining Company.
“It looks like we got off lucky,” Elliott said Thursday. “We were terrified … I want to know what it will take for you to really tell the truth and treat us like we’re adults.”
