More work needed for refinery safety
Five years ago, on Aug. 6, Bay Area refinery neighbors got a big wake-up call about the need for citizen action to make their communities safer and cleaner.
This warning took the form of a towering plume of toxic smoke from a major fire at Chevron, whose Richmond managers put profits and production ahead of corroded pipe repair.
When oil industry accidents occur in my refinery town or others nearby — such as Hercules, Martinez or Benicia — we’re told to “shelter in place.” That means staying inside, closing all windows and doors, even sealing them with duct tape. And that’s what many Richmond residents did in 2012, although 15,000 still took their respiratory complaints to the nearest hospital or clinic.
But hunkering down at home and hoping for the best — or going to see the doctor — is no substitute for addressing a problem at its source. Only nonstop labor and community organizing can make oil refineries less harmful to their own workers, air quality, community health and the environment in general.
Since the Chevron fire, safety advocates have pressured Big Oil through lobbying, litigation, regulatory intervention, electoral politics and strike activity. There have been some enforcement gains, financial concessions and commitments to better corporate behavior. Sadly, the wheels of environmental justice turn slowly when the industry involved wields enormous legal and political clout in Sacramento and Washington.
On the plus side of the ledger, after protracted negotiations with municipal leaders, Chevron began a $1 billion refinery modernization project in Richmond. City officials — elected to be stronger environmental watchdogs — secured a $90 million, post-fire community benefits agreement in return for their approval. Four years after filing suit against the company, Richmond is still seeking a damage settlement for “years of neglect, lax oversight, and corporate indifference to necessary safety inspection and repairs.”
On July 24, Chevron finally agreed to do more Richmond refinery pipe replacement, safety training and equipment monitoring, plus pay $1 million in fines assessed by CalOSHA for fire-related violations. In May, after persistent lobbying by labor and environmental groups in the Blue-Green Alliance, the Brown administration issued what the alliance calls “the nation’s strongest refinery safety regulations.” Echoing demands by striking members of the United Steel Workers at the Tesoro refinery in Martinez three years ago, the new rules give oil workers an expanded role in hazard reduction.
Unfortunately, our Democrat-dominated Legislature has just blocked the state’s air quality districts from adopting stronger refinery emission curbs — as part of Gov. Jerry Brown’s renewal of California’s controversial cap-andtrade program. Meanwhile, in Congress, President Trump is trying to defund the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. This tiny $11 million-a-year agency probed the Richmond fire, produced an informative report on its causes, and helped shape Cal-OSHA’s just concluded refinery rule-making process.
Such bipartisan undermining of key regional and federal watchdogs is not good news for refinery neighbors. But it’s a timely reminder of the further campaigning needed to ensure full investigations of refinery accidents, effective regulation of air quality or workplace safety and financial compensation for those harmed by Big Oil’s preventable mishaps.