This document (second revision, edited 28-March-2007) represents the opinion of a group of Barron Park residents who attended the meeting. Notes from the meeting can be viewed here.
Barron Park residents were pleased that CPI management took the time to meet with us last Thursday evening, March 22. The meeting was at the Barron Park School under the sponsorship of the Barron Park Association, and was moderated by Patrick Muffler.
The large turnout of residents indicated the concern residents have with the hazardous materials used at CPI. Bob Fickett, the president of CPI, explained that residents' fears were unfounded, that CPI had been using these materials for a long time, more than 45 years, including the time when CPI had been part of Varian. He also said CPI had never had a release before (but was corrected on that point - there was a fire in the plating shop and hydrochloric acid release in 1985 that resulted in large number of people evacuated from businesses along El Camino).
Mr. Fickett and a consultant he had brought to the meeting said that fears of a release of toxic fumes extending beyond the CPI property were exaggerated. However, no information was presented on how or why the previous estimates in CPI's 2006 Risk Management Plan were wrong, or on what basis the new estimates were made.
Mr. Fickett said CPI was reducing its inventory of extremely hazardous materials that are above the Title 19 threshold (potassium cyanide and nitric acid) but it is unlikely they will ever be able to reduce their inventory of these materials to below the Title 19 thresholds, which was the intent of a City Council motion on Jan 22.
In response to a question, Mr. Fickett said that CPI would be willing to make some changes that would make the neighbors feel more comfortable, like installing an audible alarm when there is a release. He is uncertain about installing toxic fume monitors and sensors, saying that it was something to be discussed in an upcoming meeting with the Palo Alto Fire Department.
In response to a request to eliminate cyanide from their onsite plating operations or to outsource that part of the plating operations, he stated that this would not be possible, but did say that CPI has separated the chemicals in their plating area. Another request from a resident to have CPI move their chemical storage building (which contains a drum of potassium cyanide powder, containers of acids, and alkaline liquids and solids) was similarly deemed not practical
CPI showed graphs that showed the odor sensitivity threshold of nitric acid fumes is well below the toxic threshold level, so nearby residents should not be concerned if they smelled chemical fumes from time to time! This was a confusing message to send to the community. We hope this was not meant to say that residents shouldn't be concerned whenever they smelled an unpleasant chemical odor, that they should not take protective action and phone the emergency response authorities. What is known is that our sense of smell is a very unreliable detector of the presence of hazardous gases. People vary widely in their sensitivity to odors. Illness and other impairments can make people less sensitive to odor than they would otherwise be (for example, see Working With Toxic and Odor Thresholds at http://archive.orr.noaa.gov/cameo/dr_aloha/odor/odor.html).
CPI was asked about the risk from hydrogen cyanide. Hydrogen cyanide is formed when any acid comes in contact with cyanide or cyanide solutions. Even though tanks of acids and tanks of plating solutions full of cyanide are both in the CPI plating shop, Mr. Paul Dinapoli of CPI stated that separation of chemicals at CPI is sufficient, that "We are trying to make it [an accident] impossible to happen."
When CPI was asked whether there is a threat to the neighbors from a release of hydrogen cyanide, their newly hired consultant said that there was no "credible threat" to the residents.
Regarding the February 2006 accident, Mr Fickett said it was a mistake not to have reported the release of nitric acid vapors in to the Fire Department. In the future, he said any releases would be immediately reported to the Palo Alto Fire Department.
Asked about the procedures and response time if a serious accidental release would happen on weekend or during holiday or evening hours (when only security staff would be on site), CPI said that the Security Guards would contact the CPI Emergency Response members at their homes, who would then come to the plant and decide on the company's response.
In conclusion, from the perspective of residents, the meeting was disappointing. Even though CPI has large amounts of extremely hazardous materials near our homes, CPI's message was "trust us," you residents are not in any danger, CPI's operation is perfectly safe.