Never let a refinery disaster go to waste. That’s what Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, is doing with Senate Bill 54, according to critics of her bill.
Hancock and fellow Democrats say SB54, which passed the Legislature last week, will improve refinery safety by increasing the number of trained contract workers at refineries. But critics say the bill actually will make refineries less safe, while providing a sweetheart deal for labor unions that will also benefit Democrats’ political campaigns.
“Refinery safety is an increasing problem in California due to recent incidents which truly risked workers’ health and public health, including the 2012 Chevron refinery explosion in Richmond,” Hancock told the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee on Aug. 14.
Pipe, not worker, failure
But it’s unlikely that Hancock’s bill, had it been in place years ago, would have done anything to prevent the Chevron refinery pipe rupture and fire on Aug. 6, 2012. SB54 focuses on the training, skills and experience level of contracted workers, which was not a factor in the accident, according to an interim investigation report by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
“[T]he pipe failed due to thinning caused by sulfidation corrosion, a common damage mechanism in refineries,” the report states.
But rather than deal with the problem of corroded refinery pipes, Hancock’s bill focuses on getting more union-trained workers into refineries. Beginning Jan. 1, 2014 at least 30 percent of a refinery contractor’s on site workforce must have completed at least 20 hours in a state-approved apprenticeship program. That increases to 45 percent in 2015 and 60 percent in 2016. And SB54 requires that they be paid prevailing (i.e., union) wages.
Naturally, the industrial unions, with one notable exception, are strong backers of the bill.
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