Torrance, CA - “The U.S. Chemical Safety Board’s (CSB) findings about the 2015 explosion at the Torrance Refinery are both troubling and serious. According to the report, the refinery failed to put into place adequate safety procedures, update its equipment and train workers adequately. But the agency, unfortunately, cannot enforce their recommendations. Instead, the agency is encouraging the industry players to come together to decide how to implement these recommendations. We need to do more,” said Muratsuchi. “That’s why I have proposed my ‘California Refinery Jobs and Safety Action Plan,’ which includes five bills that will make the refinery, it’s workers and the South Bay, safer.”
Assemblymember Muratsuchi’s “California Refinery Jobs and Safety Action Plan,” which includes five bills on refinery safety:
- AB 1645, which will ban the use of Hydrofluoric Acid at California refineries.
- AB 1646, which requires the refinery to maintain a publicly accessible risk management plan including notification to residents in emergencies (reverse 911, text, email, Public Service Announcements) and public alerts (alarms, sirens, etc)
- AB 1647 will require that the refinery install and maintain air quality monitors at both fence-line and in the community, and require that the refinery publicly report the readings from the monitors in real-time.
- AB 1649 will codify and make permanent the existing Interagency Refinery Task Force created by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr.
Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi represents California’s 66th Assembly District, which includes El Camino Village, Gardena, Harbor City, Harbor Gateway, Hermosa Beach, Lomita, Los Angeles, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Torrance, and West Carson. He serves as Chairman of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and the Assembly Select Committee on Aerospace. Muratsuchi is a member of the Assembly Committees on Budget, Budget Subcommittee 2, Appropriations, Natural Resources, Utilities and Energy, and Veterans Affairs.
CONTACT: Kerry Townsend Jacob, kerry.jacob@asm.ca.gov, 310-806-0893