The US Chemical Safety Board has confirmed that it is investigating a sulfuric acid release at Tesoro’s Golden Eagle refinery near Martinez, California, which left two workers injured.
Since the incident, which happened February 12th, CSB and Tesoro have been locked in a public tussle over the jurisdiction of the Board to investigate.
CSB spokeswoman, Hillary Cohen, said via email: “CSB investigators were present at the refinery last week and have been working with plant management to move forward with their investigative activities into the Feb. 12 accident.”
“Although the CSB obtained some cooperation from Tesoro, Tesoro has yet to provide some of the key documents sought, including a recent survey of safety culture.”
Ms Cohen added that evidence at the site had “not been preserved”.
Tesoro insists that it is fully cooperating with the authorities. Spokeswoman Elizabeth Watters, communicating via email, said: “We placed no restrictions on the amount of time the CSB teams spent at the scene.”
“We also provided documents and space to work at the refinery and facilitated interviews of employees with knowledge of the incident.”
Earlier in the month, the United Steelworkers union called on Tesoro Corp to implement comprehensive safety systems following the sulfuric acid release.
Tesoro Corp is one of the largest independent refiners and marketers of petroleum products in the United States.
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