(Washington, D.C.) –
Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) chaired a hearing of the Senate
Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee to investigate the failure of oil
and gas companies to learn from previous tragedies and implement effective
worker safety processes. Murray questioned witnesses on the lessons learned
from past accidents, as well as what changes need to be made to better protect
workers in the oil and gas industry. This hearing comes on the same day that
President Obama is meeting with families of workers killed on the BP Deepwater
Horizon disaster. The hearing also comes on the 11 year
anniversary of the Bellingham
pipeline explosion in Washington state, and Senator Murray discussed the
lessons learned from this tragedy and their relevance to worker safety today.
Senator Murray
invited BP executives to testify about the pattern of safety violations that
led to the Deepwater Horizon accident that killed 11 workers, but they refused
to send a representative.
“Like
so many Americans, I am horrified and outraged at the continued devastation in
the Gulf Coast,” Senator Murray said at the hearing today. “I want to
make sure we don’t forget about the oil and gas industry workers who deserve to
be protected…These workers and their families deserve to understand what went
wrong. And every single worker deserves to feel confident that while they
are working hard and doing their jobs, their employers are doing everything
possible to keep them safe.”
Murray
also commented on BP’s absence at the hearing, saying “I want to mention a
witness who should be here today but is not. I invited representatives from BP
to be here to help us understand what has been going wrong at their company
that has led to so many accidents, and what lessons they have learned from the
disasters at their company—but they refused to be here. And honestly, I
find it outrageous that even after an accident that killed 11 workers, BP is
still not putting a high enough priority on worker safety to send a
representative to a hearing specifically focused on protecting workers in their
industry. I want to be clear—I am not going to stop working to get answers from
BP—but I am extremely disappointed that they would not be here today.”
Witnesses testifying at
the hearing were:
Jordan Barab, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for
Occupational Safety and Health, Washington, DC
Kim Nibarger, Health and Safety Specialist, United Steelworkers,
Pittsburgh, PA
Randall Sawyer, Director, Hazardous Materials Programs, Contra Costa
County, Martinez, CA
Charles Drevna, President, National Petrochemical & Refiners
Association, Washington, DC
Full testimony from all witnesses
available upon request.
Kim Nibarger discussed
his personal experiences with the Tesoro refinery accident in Anacortes,
Washington that killed 7 workers in April, 2010.
“I had just arrived at my parent’s home
in Anacortes, Washington in the early morning of April 2nd this year
when I heard an explosion and knew immediately that something bad had happened
at one of the local refineries,” Nibarger said at the hearing. “This
was of particular concern to me as I was an operator at the now Shell refinery
in November 1998, when we had a release and fire that killed 6 of my coworkers.
Little did I know that the sound I had just heard would signal an even more
deadly accident.
“Refining hydrocarbons is an inherently
dangerous operation. Imagine filling a coffee can about half full of gasoline,
putting the lid on and setting it on the barbecue to cook. Multiply that by ten
million. This is essentially what is going on in an oil refinery. That is why
there are required safeguards to monitor the pressure, temperature and flow.
That is why it is critical to assure the equipment is in good operating
condition. This process can be operated in a safe manner, but it requires a
commitment on the part of the employer to know for certain that they are doing
all they can to maintain the equipment and equip the operators to be able to do
the job that is required.”
Senator
Murray’s full opening statement follows:
“The
Subcommittee will come to order.
“First
of all, I’d like to welcome our witnesses and guests to this hearing on keeping
workers safe in the oil and gas industry. Thank you all for coming today.
“Before
I begin, I want to mention a witness who should be here today but is not. I
invited representatives from BP to be here to help us understand what has been
going wrong at their company that has led to so many accidents, and what
lessons they have learned from the disasters at their company—but they refused
to be here.
“And
honestly, I find it outrageous that even after an accident that killed 11
workers, BP is still not putting a high enough priority on worker safety to
send a representative to a hearing specifically focused on protecting workers
in their industry. I want to be clear—I am not going to stop working to get
answers from BP—but I am extremely disappointed that they would not be here
today.
“Like
so many Americans, I am horrified and outraged at the continued devastation in
the Gulf Coast. But while there has been a lot of talk about the economic
and environmental impact—I want to make sure we don’t forget about the oil and
gas industry workers who deserve to be protected: The 11 workers who were
killed on the Deepwater Horizon, the 15 workers who died and more than 170
injured at the BP Texas City refinery disaster in 2005, the 7 workers who were
killed at the tragic fire at the Tesoro refinery in Anacortes, Washington this
year; and the hundreds more who have been injured or killed at refineries, on
rigs, and in other oil and gas facilities over the past few years.
“These
workers and their families deserve to understand what went wrong. And
every single worker deserves to feel confident that while they are working hard
and doing their jobs, their employers are doing everything possible to keep
them safe.
“And
let’s be clear. Despite what anyone tries to say—this is not a safe industry.
“In
the last 2 months alone there have been 13 fires, 19 deaths, and 25 injuries in
the oil and gas industry. In just two months!
“In
fact in 2010 alone, there has been an average one fire per week at our refineries.
And I should say those are just the fires that have been reported— refineries
have no legal obligation to report every incident. And on Monday of this week,
two more explosions rocked the industry – seven crewmembers in Morgantown, West
Virginia were injured when a natural gas well exploded while they were drilling
through an abandoned coal mine filled with methane gas, and a natural gas
pipeline in Johnson County, Texas exploded—killing two more workers.
“To
me, this doesn’t seem like simply a string of bad luck—it appears to be a
disregard for safety regulations and precautions across the entire industry.
And I am very concerned that it is the result of oil and gas companies that put
profits and production over workers and safety.
“Just
this week, a ProPublica article appeared in the Washington Post that
highlighted a report issued by BP in 2001 reviewing safety concerns at their
Prudhoe Bay drilling fields. Without objection I would like to submit this
article for the record.
“In
their ‘Review of Operational Integrity Concerns at Greater Prudhoe Bay,’ BP’s
own workers noted that ‘Preventative maintenance, including scheduled
maintenance required by regulation, has not been completed as scheduled for all
fire and gas system equipment.’ And that ‘Many workers believe their ability to
safely shutdown production has been diminished by staff reductions and the
deterioration of the valves used to isolate production.’ And lastly and perhaps
most shocking, the report stated, ‘Many of the employee concerns discussed in
this report are not new and have been the subject of significant study and
discussion for a considerable period.’
“This
is simply unacceptable. And we have seen other reports and studies over
the years that have laid out extensive recommendations for improving worker
safety.
“In
response to the Texas City tragedy, BP commissioned an independent panel to
conduct a thorough review of the company’s corporate safety culture, safety
management systems, and corporate safety oversight at its five U.S.
refineries. The Panel illustrated several clear and specific suggestions
to address the major safety hazards that were found at all five of BP’s U.S.
refineries. And in October of 2009, OSHA fined BP 87.4 million dollars for the
company’s failure to correct potential hazards faced by employees – the largest
fine issued in OSHA’s history.
“As
if things weren’t bad enough, I’ve read reports that some of the same oil and
gas companies that experienced fatal disasters at their work sites received
safety awards within the same year of their accidents. In fact, the workers at
BP Texas City were celebrating safety accomplishments at the very moment the
explosion killed them. And it was reported that the same day the Deepwater
Horizon exploded, a group of BP executives were onboard to celebrate the crew’s
safety achievements.
“This
is truly tragic. It is unacceptable. And it needs to change.
“And
to be clear, BP is not the only company with a poor record of
safety. It seems to me that the oil and gas industry as a whole has
a hard time learning from their mistakes and making sure their workers are
protected.
“But
why is this? Is it that the regulations already on the books are being ignored?
Or are the regulations currently in place not tough enough to do the job? We
need to figure that out before more lives are destroyed. And we need to
make sure everyone knows that business as usual in this industry will no longer
be tolerated.
“As
John Bresland, chairman of the Chemical Safety Board, recently told the Seattle
Times, ‘if the aviation industry had the same number of types of incidents as
the refining industry, I don’t think people would be flying too much.’ And I
have to agree with Mr. Bresland.
“So
today we are going to hear from witnesses who are going to explain to the
Subcommittee why these incidents continue to happen. Why there continue to be
shortcomings in the oil and gas industry when it comes to worker
protections. And what we need to do to make sure this industry improves.
“I
am going to have some questions about the need for improved process safety
management. And I am very interested in hearing examples of local efforts that
have successfully addressed process safety hazards in the oil and gas industry.
“But
before I turn it over to the ranking member, I want to briefly mention two
incidents from Washington state that make this hearing particularly meaningful
to families in my home state.
“The
first one is recent. I briefly mentioned earlier that an explosion at a
Tesoro refinery in Anacortes, Washington killed 7 workers. Well it also
devastated a community and left a lot of people searching for answers. We
owe it to the workers, their families, and their community to make sure that a
tragedy like this never happens again in our state or anywhere else. Because
our state has a lot of men and women who go to work every day in the oil and
gas industry. And they deserve to be protected.
“The
other incident I want to mention happened a while ago, but it is still as
relevant as ever. Exactly eleven years ago today—on June 10th 1999—a
pipeline exploded in Bellingham, Washington, claiming the lives of three young
Washingtonians and devastating the community. Like the workers who lost
their lives on the Deepwater Horizon and in Anacortes, I know that these three
deaths can and should have been prevented.
“So
with the help and support of the Bellingham community, I took the lessons we
learned and fought hard to pass legislation in 2002 that has dramatically
improved the pipeline system across our country. What happened in
Bellingham 11 years ago was a tragedy, but it was also a reminder that we can’t
just assume someone else is taking care of things. We can’t slip back to where
we were before. We have to stay vigilant and continue working to improve safety
wherever we can.
“Which
is why I believe it’s so fitting that this hearing on worker safety in the oil
and gas industry is taking place on the 11th anniversary of this tragedy.
So once again, I am looking forward to hearing from our witnesses about this
important issue. But before I introduce the first panel, I’d like to recognize
Senator Isakson for his opening statement.”
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