City of Martinez officials are in coordination with Contra Costa Health (CCH), County Fire District and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the response to illegally dumped mercury in the parking lot of the Martinez Amtrak Station. The Martinez Police Department is investigating the illegal dumping, as the City coordinates clean-up efforts at various contamination sites.
On Monday morning, May 8, city maintenance crews were conducting normal collections of litter and recycling containers at City facilities. Unbeknownst to the maintenance crew – they serviced a trash container located at the train station parking lot that was contaminated with mercury. The maintenance crew proceeded to service other trash containers on their route, which led to a trail of mercury contamination on various city streets within the proximity of the Amtrak Station where the mercury originated. These streets include Marina Vista Avenue between the train station and Alhambra Avenue; Alhambra Avenue from Marina Vista to Buckley Street; Buckley Street from Alhambra Avenue to Berrellesa Street; Berrellesa from Buckley Street north to the City Corporation Yard and on Buckley Street near the entrance to Rankin Park. The appropriate measures to ensure the health and safety of the maintenance crews were taken.
Tracing efforts led by the EPA and CCH have led to the identification of numerous sites with contamination, and now clean-up efforts are underway. The City has retained an experienced firm — Clean Harbors, Inc – to conduct clean-up efforts, which started at 10:30 a.m. this morning. Please expect oversized vehicles and rolling street closures in the identified areas. Clean-up crews will be followed by a police security detail. Clean-up of the interior of the train station will be overseen by Amtrak.
Overnight security of the train station area is being coordinated by the Martinez Police Department with the help of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and augmentation by outside private security. The public is urged to avoid the area until further notice.
There is no risk to businesses that operate in the Downtown area. Normal activities in the Downtown area are not impacted by this work. County Connection bus service continues, but with temporary detours around the impacted areas. Go to www.countyconnection.com for service alerts.
Public outreach efforts are being carefully coordinated among multiple agencies. When the clean-up effort has been completed, the City will provide additional public notification. The public can find additional information about the clean-up efforts on the City website at www.cityofmartinez.org; by following the City on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; or, by signing up for e-mail updates at https://tinyurl.com/mtznews.
Mayor Brianne Zorn shares “This incident has been highly complex involving multiple levels of government. We appreciate the public’s patience as we address the situation. It is unfortunate that an illegal act, like this, had the potential to put our City workers and the community at risk, but I am confident that our coordinated team of local and federal agency first responders, all of whom arrived immediately upon notification will continue to do everything they can to help keep us safe ensure the contamination is cleaned up. Thank you to the City of Martinez staff, ConFire, County Health and EPA representatives for their collaboration on this effort.”
Previous Stories:
- May 10: Mercury Found in More Locations in City of Martinez
- May 10: Downtown Martinez Mercury Contamination Larger Than Initially Believed
- May 8: HAZMAT Response Closes Martinez Amtrak Station
