WALNUT CREEK — A “toxic plume” at a fuel station on Mt. Diablo Boulevard has contaminated the neighborhood’s air and soil, in line with a February authorized grievance filed by the previous proprietor of an eco-friendly dry cleansing enterprise subsequent door.
The grievance claims that regional environmental businesses failed to carry oil corporations accountable for remediating their land for many years, and that the environmental viability of future, transit-oriented improvement eyed for plaintiff Steve Depper’s property is now threatened. However Depper stated the defendants, Marathon Petroleum Company and Tesoro Refining & Advertising Firm, who’ve each owned the property, are finally accountable.
The now-75-year-old Depper opened up Dutch Lady Cleaners in 2002, branching off from his household’s third-generation enterprise to supply greener cleansing options lower than a mile west of downtown Walnut Creek, positioned close to the junction of Interstate 680 and Freeway 24.
“I’m very cautious about exposing my employees — obviously that’s why I’m all green,” Depper stated in an interview Friday. “Rather than coming up with a new engineering solution, which I understand is readily available, (Marathon and Tesoro) decided to just leave that big mound of highly contaminated soil in place and cover it up. It’s still there today, and it’s not going away.”
Regardless of itemizing 16 separate claims towards numerous subsidiaries, Depper’s grievance has one most important request for the petroleum firms — uphold statutory, contractual agreements to retain accountability for remediation.
Put extra merely: transfer the poisonous filth.
Publish-retirement, Depper has crafted plans to redevelop that web site into Dutch Lady Plaza, a mixed-use residential and industrial improvement, together with 75 residential items that incorporate low-income housing and daycare providers.
However he recounted quite a few fruitless makes an attempt to get the petroleum firms to scrub up carcinogenic petroleum byproducts which have leached out of underground storage tanks and onto the land he purchased in Dec. 1999 — an issue, he stated, that began greater than a decade prior.
If he can not be certain that the poisonous plume is remediated and eliminated earlier than development crews get onsite, Depper’s grievance stated that hazard might halt future improvement indefinitely, if not completely.
The fuel station on the coronary heart of the grievance, Speedway Categorical, was owned by subsidiaries of Tesoro till it that firm was acquired by Marathon in 2018.
Depper’s grievance alleges {that a} “continuous and uncontrolled release of carcinogenic chemicals” has migrated to and contaminated his property. Marathon and Tesoro, he claims, have botched previous remediation makes an attempt, and ignored his ongoing issues.
The grievance says noxious fumes and groundwater contamination related to the fuel station’s poisonous, chemical-laden soil “poses public safety risks to occupants, employees, and customers of Dutch Girl Cleaners,” in addition to neighboring companies and native water.
“What really bothers me is we don’t really know how far this contamination is extended — is it safe? I can’t answer that,” Depper stated, explaining that he hasn’t gotten clear solutions in regards to the plume’s vertical and horizontal migration, pointing to high school and daycare websites close to the fuel station. “Marathon is not interested in assisting us to move forward as a city — as a community.”
The Dutch Lady Property was traditionally zoned for industrial use. That modified in September 2018, when the town of Walnut Creek adopted the “West Downtown Specific Plan,” which rezoned the world for blended residential and industrial use.
By 2019, one section of that particular plan envisioned a “BART Block” on Mt. Diablo Boulevard — the place high-density, transit-oriented tasks could be constructed inside strolling and driving distance to the Walnut Creek BART Station.
Brian Danitz, companion at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, stated Depper’s efforts to serve and enhance his group are being “upended by the callous disregard” of the oil giants.
“It is outrageous that Marathon Oil would allow this contamination to seep through his property and continue to endanger not only the health and welfare of those who live and work there, but also the future of the development of that area for housing and other purposes that are sorely needed by Walnut Creek,” Danitz stated over the telephone Friday. “It is antithetical to Mr. Depper’s understanding of what it means to be a good citizen and what it means to provide services to Walnut Creek.”
Makes an attempt to achieve San Francisco-based authorized counsel for Marathon Petroleum Company and Tesoro Refining & Advertising Firm for remark have been unsuccessful by Friday night, as have been requests to the oil giants’ respective company places of work.
In October, a Martinez refinery operated by Tesoro was fined $5 million for air-quality violations over a four-year interval. The Bay Space Air High quality Administration District introduced 59 violations on the refinery from 2018 to 2022 for “improperly flared vapors from storage tanks and loading racks,” amongst different penalties — reportedly the second-largest evaluation within the district’s historical past.
Danitz stated Depper’s repeated makes an attempt to contact and communicate to the San Francisco Bay Regional Water High quality Management Board in regards to the contamination abutting Dutch Lady Cleaner’s property have “not taken care of the problem.”
“Ultimately,” Danitz stated, “he felt he had to take things into his own hands, and felt he was forced to bring this lawsuit to clean up this mess.”
