To: Board of Supervisors
From: Anna Roth, Health Services Director
Report Title: Hearing Regarding an Ordinance Amending the County’s Industrial Safety Ordinance
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. OPEN the public hearing; RECEIVE testimony and public comments; and CLOSE the public hearing.
2. ADOPT Ordinance No. 2024-14.
3. DETERMINE that the adoption of Ordinance No. 2024-14 is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15061(b)(3) because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that this activity could have a significant effect on the environment.
4. DIRECT the Director of Conservation and Development, or designee, to file a CEQA notice of exemption with the County Clerk and the State Clearinghouse.
5. AUTHORIZE the Health Services Director, or designee, to pay the Department of Conservation and Development $25 for processing the notice of exemption, and the County Clerk $50 for filing the notice of exemption.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There will be no impact to the General Fund. Revenue from the ISO Fees will fund the costs associated with staff time for implementing the amendments.
BACKGROUND:
On Tuesday October 15, 2019, at approximately 13:48, the NuStar Facility had a fire and explosion involving two ethanol storage tanks. The first tank caught fire at approximately 13:48 and the second tank caught fire shortly thereafter. Prior to the event both tanks were static and contained less than 3,000 barrels of denatured ethanol each. With the exception of routine inspection and monitoring activities by facility personnel and contractors, there was no activity in the tank farm at the time of the fire. The terminal was evacuated. Emergency response vehicles were onsite within minutes and began response by directing water and firefighting foam to mitigate the fire and cool adjacent tanks. A grass fire began on the hillside adjacent to the terminal and was extinguished with the assistance of both fixed and rotary wing aircraft laying down fire suppressant and water.
Contra Costa Health (CCH) Hazmat Incident Response team deployed to the scene to perform air monitoring. At 15:11 a Shelter in Place was initiated for the affected community. Interstate 80 was closed in both directions for the duration of the incident. The fire was abated at approximately 19:00 and the Shelter in Place was lifted at 19:38. The fire and explosion destroyed two storage tanks at NuStar, each with an approximate size of 200,000 barrels (8.4 million gallons).
After the fire and explosion, a team was put together to investigate the incident. The team was led by Contra Costa County Fire Protection District. The investigation in addition to reviewing the details of the NuStar incident also evaluated similar incidents investigated by the US Chemical Safety and Hazards Investigation Board. The aim of the investigation was to identify the contributing factors of the incident.
The incident investigation report identified an electrical fault as the cause of the incident and made the following recommendations:
- All automatic level gauge floats and tapes should be grounded in compliance with API 2003 and manufacturer’s recommendations. All gauge devices and transmitters should be grounded in compliance with manufacturer’s recommendations.
- Pad the head space in the tanks with an inert gas to mitigate the hazardous atmosphere within the tanks. This should be done in addition to removing all potential ignition sources.
- Overall compliance with all agency requirements and standards, including but not limited to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and American Petroleum Institute (API).
- Tanks should be monitored for Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) conditions.
CCH Hazmat Staff reviewed the incident investigation report conclusions and worked with stakeholders to identify safety program elements which would be beneficial in accidental release prevention for Tank Terminals such as NuStar. Based upon the conclusions, staff recommended to the ISO/CWS Ad Hoc Committee at the May 16, 2022, meeting that a revision be made to the Contra Costa County Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO) to include Tank Terminals. This recommendation included nine safety program elements for inclusion. Full details are included in the attached staff report.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If the ISO amendments are not approved, a gap would still exist in preventing process safety accidents at tank terminal facilities.