The BlueGreen Alliance submitted comments to the California Environmental Protection Agency on proposed amendments to the state’s Process Safety Management Rule for Refineries (PSM).

“In four significant ways, the proposed language changes to California OSHA’s Process Safety Management Rule for Refineries (PSM) (5189.1) weaken the protections that were painstakingly negotiated with WSPA after the explosion and fire at the Chevron Richmond refinery in 2012 that spread smoke across the Bay Area and resulted in more than 15,000 area residents seeking medical attention.

The proposed amendments would:

• Increase the threat from highly hazardous materials by changing what is defined as highly hazardous;
• Reduce safety procedures designed to minimize the dangers in this inherently hazardous industry by limiting the definition of what constitutes a major change;
• Weaken solutions to safety problems by diminishing the consideration of actions that eliminate instead of just reducing the safety and health hazard; and
• Reduce the power of operating and turnaround workers and their unions to keep themselves and the surrounding communities safe.”

Read the full comments below.

Download The Document