The Bay Area Air Quality Agency, the regional air pollution control agency, has an active investigation into a flaring event at Martinez Refining Company on Nov. 24, in which it anticipates issuing citations.
On November 25th, Air District personnel responded to 7 total complaints from the Martinez refinery alleging dust in their homes and on their cars. At the time of these calls, the wind direction was southwest with speeds of zero to 2 miles per hour.
The suspected source of the fallout is believed to have been Martinez Refining Company (MRC).
The air pollution control agency said it spoke to MRC representatives and was told the refinery received a total of 24 calls about dust around the company, and dust samples were collected at locations throughout the community, so it requested a copy of the results.
By November 26, Air District personnel were on scene investigating the event further and met with MRC representatives to gather additional information about the incident and subsequent fallout in the surrounding areas.
At that time, MRC stated that it had experienced a process unit upset and as a result had an indicated excess of opacity in the carbon monoxide boilers and a reportable amount of sulfur dioxide due to flaring on Thursday, November 24.
MRC representatives informed Air District personnel on the 26th that the disrupted unit is back to normal operation and does not anticipate any further disruption.