A chemical spill that prompted a shelter-in-place order in Richmond last month left no lasting ecological bruise on the Parchester Village neighborhood or nearby wetlands, inspectors report, and the company that stored the smelly solvent dismantled its tanks.
The May 5 flow of more than 3,000 gallons of toluene, a variety of mineral spirits, into Bruener Marsh also helped along an accumulation of illegally discarded motor oil in a drainage ditch near The Reaction Products Co., according to a report released this month by the Contra Costa Hazardous Materials Program.
The spill might never have left company property if someone had not opened a valve on a backup containment system, inspectors also found.
"We found some violations. There were some (storage) issues," said Steve Marioka, assistant hazardous materials director. "The more significant violation had to do with the hazardous materials business plan."
The county requires businesses that store or use large amounts of toxic chemicals to develop plans for keeping track of them and prepare adequate countermeasures in the event of accidental release. Regulatory agencies, including the Richmond Fire Department, found fault with the company's plans. They also found problems with storage in a warehouse on the property.
"There was a secondary issue in an area of the property that contains a warehouse," said Doug Murray, Richmond's assistant fire marshal. "There were some 55-gallon
drums containing some hazardous materials. The major problem is that they were not contained properly."
The business, at the end of Morton Avenue, which borders Parchester Village, sells chemical components used in fertilizers, lubricants, solvents and anti-corrosive products. The owner, Dwight Merrill, declined comment this week.
But in a June 5 response to inspection reports from the county and Richmond Fire Department, Merrill wrote that he hired a welder to dismantle four large storage tanks on the property, including the one that leaked.
"The major fact is that we have removed the tanks involved in the incident and will no longer receive solvents into bulk tanks," he wrote.
The leak prompted a brief scare in Parchester Village and a weeklong, federally funded cleanup effort headed by the U.S. Coast Guard.
The company's delay in reporting it Merrill called a cleanup contractor instead of the government and confusion about the amount and type of chemical involved, confounded regulatory agencies and contributed to the unnecessary sounding of emergency sirens in the neighborhood about five hours into the cleanup, according to the county report.
Nerves have settled a bit on streets near Reaction Products since the spill, but some residents have lingering doubts about long-term safety; the revelation that a chemical company stores dangerous chemicals so near their homes makes them angry.
"Why do they zone that next to us? We don't want these strong chemicals in our neighborhood," said Rachel Garcia, president of the Parchester Village Neighborhood Council. "I'm sure that a City Council member wouldn't accept this one or two blocks from their house."
The county's 30-day incident report confirmed that metal thieves probably caused the leak during the weekend of May 3-4 by cutting through a cyclone fence and using a large wrench to remove the brass valves on four storage tanks, including one containing the toluene.
They also chopped a length of water pipe from a neighbor's property. Merrill wrote in his response to the county that the thieves also probably opened a valve on his backup containment system, allowing the chemical to flow into a culvert and into Bruener Marsh.
The East Bay Regional Park District, which owns the contaminated wetland, has regularly tested the soil since the spill and notes that the chemical is rapidly dissipating. Three ducks and many small fish in a drainage ditch near the property died during the spill, but no more dead animals were found.
The inspecting agencies forwarded their findings this week to the Contra Costa district attorney's office, which will consider whether to file criminal charges. A deputy there said he has not finished reviewing the case.