Hazardous Materials Commission

Agenda (26 items)

• —Chair: Marielle Boortz Vice Chair: Jamin Pursell
• —Agenda Items: Items may be taken out of order based on the business of the day and preference of the Committee
• 1.Roll Call and Introductions
• 2.CONSIDER approval of the May 8, 2026 Hazardous Materials Commission Operations Committee meeting minutes.26-2536 · Discussion Item ·
• 3.Public comment on any item under the jurisdiction of the Committee and not on this agenda (speakers may be limited to two minutes).
• 4.DISCUSS any updates to the Hazardous Materials Commission priorities for 2026 and the work plan for studying priorities assigned to the Operations Committee, including inviting potential speakers.26-2537 · Discussion Item ·
• 5.DISCUSS and continue drafting Hazardous Materials Commission procedures, particularly those that involve the Operations Committee, e.g., candidates interview process.26-2538 · Discussion Item ·
• 6.DISCUSS the logistics of holding another public forum including panelists, venue, schedule, formatting, resources, food options, etc.26-2539 · Discussion Item ·
• 7.REVIEW the flyer from last year’s public forum and CONSIDER revising and approving a new flyer to share as a “save the date”.26-2540 · Discussion Item ·
• 8.Announcements from commissioners on items of commission interest.
• 9.Plan next meeting agenda.
• —The next meeting is currently scheduled for July 10, 2026 at 10:00 AM.
• —Adjourn
• —The Committee will provide reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities planning to attend the Committee meetings. Contact the staff person listed below at least 72 hours before the meeting. Any disclosable public records related to an open session item on a regular meeting agenda and distributed by the County to a majority of members of the Committee less than 96 hours prior to that meeting are available for public inspection at 4005 Port Chicago Highway. Suite 120 Concord, CA 94520, during normal business hours. Staff reports related to items on the agenda are also accessible online at www.contracosta.ca.gov. If the Zoom connection malfunctions for any reason, the meeting may be paused while a fix is attempted. If the connection is not reestablished, the committee will continue the meeting in person without remote access. Public comment may be submitted via electronic mail on agenda items at least one full work day prior to the published meeting time.
• —For Additional Information Contact: Adam Springer at 925-655-3216
• —The meeting was called to order at 10:02 AM.
• —Commissioners Present: Jamin Pursell, Aaron Winer, Madeline Kronenberg, Terry Baldwin, Lou Flores Commissioners Present Online: Tim Bancroft Staff Present: Adam Springer Public Present: Jan Warren, Bethi Carver Gibb
• —The commissioners present voted to approve the May 8, 2026 Hazardous Materials Commission Operations Committee meeting minutes. Motion: Terry Baldwin Second: Aaron Winer
• —Jan Warren made a comment regarding the Marathon refinery strike and expressed concerns around safety for workers. She shared that it seems there is a lot done after an incident occurs but expressed that she feels there should be more focus placed on prevention of dangerous incidents.
• —The meeting was adjourned at 11:39 AM.
• —Commissioners Flores intended to make a public comment about the Marathon refinery strike at the most recent Board of Supervisors meeting, but was unable to so he read his a comment aloud to this committee.
• —The commissioners present reviewed the priorities list and discussed guest speakers and topics they would be interested in having present soon. This committee added process documents to their list of priorities as they have already been working on them the past few months. Commissioner Pursell noted that Maile Chinn had previously suggested she may be able to obtain a guest speaker from UC Berkeley to discuss carbon capture technologies. Commissioner Winer can check in with his contact at Raven to hopefully connect with a speaker for hydrogen generation; he also has a possible lead on a speaker on PFAs from Zone 7 Water. This committee also noted the proposal of an AI data center in Pittsburg and expressed interest in a guest speaker from the company; Commissioner Kronenberg suggested PFAs and data centers may be a great topic for the forum since it is a hot topic currently in the community, but staff noted that this may not be within the purview of the commission. Depending on the cooling system used for the proposed Pittsburg data center, it may or may not fall under the commission's purview. Commissioner Bancroft shared that in his experience, data centers typically do not utilize PFAs, but the concern would be around the water usage and their cooling methods. A member of the public, Bethi Carver Gibb, expressed concerns around the impacts of AI data centers and urged the commission to propose alternative, clean energy such as hydrogen generation or recommend code changes to the Board. The committee suggested drafting a timeline of guest speakers for the remainder of the year tentative to the ability of speakers to present. Staff noted that DCD reached out about a brownfield cleanup grant they received to remediate hazardous sites; will confirm their availability to speak to the commission.
• —The commissioners present reviewed the updated procedure documents that were updated during their last meeting. Commissioner Pursell suggested creating a syllabus for the student interns at the next meeting so that expectation are clear. Some additional modifications included revising the language on the Environmental Organization Seat Flyer to reflect membership to an environmental organization versus representation. All updated procedural documents will be included on the next meeting agenda.
• —The commissioners present continued their work planning for a public forum on September 17th. Commissioner Baldwin noted that this committee's room request will be heard by the IBEW board later this month and he anticipates that it will be approved without issue and that the janitorial fees would be waived. The commissioners present suggested creating an ad hoc subcommittee to focus solely on forum planning as it is only a few months away. Suggested revisions to the forum planning document included modifying the timeline used last year to reflect this year's event schedule which will take place later in the day in hopes of improving attendance. Staff worked to create a new forum planning document with additional suggestions for timeline, proposed guest speakers, and other notes such as Q&A procedure. The main priority moving forward will be to secure guest speakers for the forum so the committee members discussed which members will reach out to the different organizations. The updated forum planning document and the new short forum agenda document will be included on the next meeting agenda.
• —The commissioners present reviewed the flyer and confirmed with staff if they would be able to electronically distribute and advertise the event at least a month in advance; last year the flyer was not shared by the county until roughly one week before the event and this committee felt that was not enough notice for the public. Staff will continue to review and revise this flyer at future meetings as they confirm the forum venue and the list of guest speakers and topics.
• —Full meeting recording can be found here: https://contra-costa.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx