Richmond Chevron refinery receives nuisance violation for odor from bioreactor
Inspectors from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued a public nuisance notice of violation to the Chevron Refinery following a Friday inspection.
They had responded to a number of air quality odor complaints from people detecting a heavy petroleum or burnt tires odor.
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Air district staff spoke with the Chevron Fire Department who directed them to the facility's bioreactor where they found the same burnt tire odor. Chevron staff told the inspectors that they had experienced an upset at their bioreactor, according to the air district incident report. That was about 3 p.m.
By 3:30 p.m., the company reported a Level 1 notification through its Community Warning System saying, "We have investigated and have confirmed odors are from the Richmond refinery. The odor source is ongoing."
The air district inspection staff are patrolling the Point Richmond area throughout the weekend.
It is the second Level 1 warning in two weeks. The air district late last month issued violation notices to Chevron because of flaring from the refinery.
That incident on Nov. 27 happened due to a loss of power at part of the facility and sent a large plume of black smoke over the region.
A Facebook post by the Chevron Richmond account confirmed that the workers at the facility were attempting to "quickly to minimize and stop the flaring." The post said a "Community Warning System (CWS) Level 1" was issued due to smoke and the visible flaring.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District reports they received more than 100 complaints about air quality in connection with the incident.