Five Years Post-explosion, Tesoro Strikers Still Push for Safety Measures

— by J.M. Wong for Seattle Globalist —

A December 2013 view of the Tesoro refinery across Fidalgo Bay from March Point. (Photo by Dana via Creative Commons License)

Five years ago, seven workers were killed in an explosion at the Tesoro oil refinery in Anacortes, Wash., triggered by a faulty heat exchanger.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board has since determined that the incident was preventable, caused by “a deficient refinery safety culture, weak industry standards for safeguarding equipment, and a regulatory that too often emphasizes activities rather than outcomes.” For its role in jeopardizing the workers’ lives, Tesoro was fined a mere $685,000.

The vivid memory of this incident is partly what drives workers to a strike picket line outside the refinery on a sunny February Sunday morning. Pierce Hoover, who has worked at the Tesoro plant for nine years, remembers the deceased: Daniel Aldridge, Matt Bowen, Matt Gumbel, Darrin Hoines, Lew Janz, Kathryn Powell and Donna Van Dreumel.

“Those were our friends, just like how we are friends here,” he said.

(To read the full article, go to seattleglobalist.com/tesoro-strikers-march-point-swinomish-skagit)