State shutters fuel site that exploded
Storage facilities are not regulated as strictly as refineries
State officials on Wednesday shut down the Contra Costa County fuel storage facility whose tanks exploded until it can be determined that operations can safely continue.
The move by Cal/OSHA to stop operations at the NuStar Energy facility in Crockett came as investigators served a search warrant, looking for answers about what caused two tanks containing 250,000 gallons of ethanol to explode and burn, prompting a sevenhour closure of one of the Bay Area’s busiest freeways.
Officials were investigating whether the fire and explosion just before 2 p.m. Tuesday was triggered by a 4.5 earthquake that struck roughly 10 miles away in Pleasant Hill on Monday night, but it’s “far too early” to know the cause, said Steve Hill, a spokesman for the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, which is leading the investigation.
“We haven’t taken anything off the table,” he said.
At a late afternoon news conference, he said every possibility is being considered, and that he was not aware of any connection between the quake and fire. It would be conjecture to make that connection at this point, he added.
A possible quake link “is one of many things we will be looking at as we work with officials to identify the cause of the
fire,” said Mary Rose Brown, a NuStar spokeswoman.
NuStar said that following Monday’s quake its employees had conducted a physical inspection, walking through the facility to look for problems. “If there is any damage detected during that inspection, we immediately address it and follow up accordingly. In this case, there was no damage detected after the earthquake,” the company said.
On Wednesday night, the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District pulled its operational and fire suppression resources from the site.
“There is no threat whatsoever to the community that we’re aware of at this point as a result of yesterday’s fires,” Hill said at the news conference. “There’s no reason for concern among the community about any safety or public health threat.”
Contra Costa County fire investigators served the search warrant on NuStar, and federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives joined the probe, Hill said. NuStar Energy, the San Antonio company whose subsidiary operates the facility, has cooperated with investigators, Hill said.
Tuesday’s huge fireball and billowing black smoke prompted officials to close Interstate 80 for seven hours and issue a shelterinplace order for local residents. The two ethanol tanks were just 1% full, because, according to Brown, the company was expecting a shipment Wednesday.
“I think we probably dodged some bullets here in the last 24 hours,“Hill said, referring to the mostly empty tanks.
Fuel storage facilities like NuStar’s are subject to fewer regulations than refineries, which process and also store fuel.
The Contra Costa County health department audits the NuStar facility once a year, but there’s no requirement to check on a facility after an earthquake, according to county health officer Randy Sawyer. It’s left up to the company.
“There’s no requirement to make sure it’s safe to start back up. It’s their responsibility,” Sawyer said.
Processing facilities like refineries are regulated as part of California’s Accidental Release Prevention program run by each county.
But the Crockett facility does not process enough chemicals to fall under the requirements, said Cho Nai Cheung, manager of that program in Contra Costa County. That means that while refineries must submit a risk management plan to the county, a storage facility like the one in Crockett does not have to do so.
The Crockett site is, however, required to submit a hazardous materials business plan to the county health department that includes types and amounts of hazardous chemicals, location and storage information, and facility contact information. The county inspects the facility on an annual basis.
“They do get a look, but the regulatory requirements are a little less complicated and cumbersome for something that doesn’t have the same perceived risk potential,” Cheung said.
Storage facility business plans do not have to include emergency planning and reporting, accident prevention and mitigation, a hazard assessment and an emergency response program — information that refineries are required to submit, according to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
The state’s Accidental Release Prevention program requires seismic reviews, but Cheung said the regulations only recommend — don’t require — checks on their facilities after a “major event” that could include an earthquake. So even refineries are not required to check their facilities after a quake.
Shore Terminals LLC, the subsidiary of NuStar that runs the facility in Crockett, had five violations recorded by the Environmental Protection Agency from 2015 to 2017. One was related to hazardous waste requirements for large generators.
Shore Terminals LLC and the Crockett location were also involved in a federal criminal case in 2009 for emitting large amounts of volatile compounds into the air without a vapor recovery unit for at least a year, according to the EPA. The company pleaded guilty to making false statements and was sentenced to pay a $1.75 million criminal fine, serve two years of probation and create an environmental compliance plan, according to the EPA.
The Crockett facility’s most recent business plan was submitted to the county health department on Feb. 27. The plan said the site is a hazardous waste generator but doesn’t treat waste onsite or own or operate underground storage tanks.
The documents said that, on average, the amount of fuel stored on a given day includes 21 million gallons of jet fuel, 10 million gallons of ethanol and 2 million gallons of gasoline.
The latest county health department inspection of the facility in July reported a minor violation of failing to test or inspect the structural integrity of each aboveground container. The county asked the facility to inspect, test, and maintain records by a month later in August.
The incident put residents on edge.
Taunya Lovan said smoke from the fire had seeped into her home Tuesday and made her eyes burn and her throat hurt. She initially thought something next door was on fire.
“It was a whole bunch — it was black and misty,” she said of the smoke.
She went to her mother’s house where the air was clear. Standing on a neighbor’s porch Wednesday midday in fresh air, Lovan said her symptoms were gone.