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  In Chevron Fire's Wake, Dissension Plagues Oversight Agency
July 8, 2014
 
 

In Chevron fire's wake, dissension plagues oversight agency
Jaxon Van Derbeken
Updated 10:56 pm, Monday, July 7, 2014

  • Rafael Moure-Eraso, head of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, has clashed with board members over an overhaul of oil refinery inspections. Photo: Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle

Rafael Moure-Eraso, head of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, has clashed with board members over an overhaul of oil refinery inspections. Photo: Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle

The federal agency that investigated the Chevron fire in Richmond in 2012 is racked by dissension over how to overhaul the nation's refinery inspection efforts in reaction to the blaze, and now Congress is getting involved.
At the root of the turmoil is the chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, Rafael Moure-Eraso, an appointee of President Obama's who has advocated tougher oversight since taking over the agency in 2010.
After a leak in a corroded oil pipe at the Richmond refinery set off the August 2012 fire, Moure-Eraso said California should lead the way in adopting a more stringent inspection model used in Europe and elsewhere.
California regulators conducted minimal inspections at the Chevron plant in the decade before the fire, which prompted 15,000 people to seek medical treatment for breathing problems and resulted in a months-long partial shutdown of the refinery.
Moure-Eraso clashed with the safety board's other two members over the proposal, however, and the agency's Chevron report seeking reforms of the industry in California has been on hold since January.
Call to resign
Moure-Eraso is under attack on other fronts as well. Last month, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista (San Diego County), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, urged him to resign in response to charges ranging from whistle-blower retaliations to refusal to cooperate with government probes to a lack of "collegiality" at the 40-employee agency.
"I really believe it's time you go," Issa told Moure-Eraso at a hearing of the oversight committee.
Some Democrats joined in the criticism, including the panel's ranking Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, who told Moure-Eraso: "It seems like the fingers are pointing at you. Exactly how do we get this agency to functioning?" Moure-Eraso testified that he knew of no employee "who may have lost his or her job, grade or any pay as a result of complaints." And he noted that the vote on the Chevron report was the only one in recent months in which all three Chemical Safety Board members did not agree. "So the work of the board is getting done," he said.
Criticism 'chilled'
However, a former member of the board - who resigned in May, just a year after Obama appointed her - testified that constructive criticism is "chilled" inside the agency. "The level of dysfunction reached such a level and I had no hope of it improving, so I left," Beth Rosenberg said.
She said internal critics were "marginalized and vilified" and viewed by Moure-Eraso as disloyal. In an e-mail, she declined to comment further.
Her resignation left the safety board with just two members. There were already two vacancies on what is supposed to be a five-member board.
The turmoil leaves unresolved the question of what the safety board will recommend that California do in reaction to the Chevron fire.
California, meanwhile, is pushing ahead with its own new regulations and has hired more inspectors to monitor the oil industry more closely. The federal safety board can issue only recommendations to federal and state agencies, not orders. Yet its reports are often cited by advocates pushing for change.
Risk to public
Jeff Ruch, head of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a watchdog group for workers in regulatory agencies, said the safety board's turmoil puts the public at risk.
"No chemical safety initiatives are going forward," he said. "The plans are getting older; the kind of conditions that led to the Chevron Richmond explosion are going to become more prevalent."
Moure-Eraso wanted California to adopt an oil-refinery inspection regime similar to those in place overseas.


 

 
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