Don’t let oil companies rewrite refinery safety rules

By Marie Choi and Nick Plurkowski, especially for CalMatters

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In recent months, a series of refinery fires, chemical spills and other disasters have kept Californians on their toes. Yet California regulators are quietly proposing to weaken the state’s safety rules in a secret deal with oil lobbyists – putting us all at greater risk.

On Jan. 15, regulators will hold a public hearing at the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Council meeting in Sacramento on changes to California’s process safety management regulations, an issue with life-or-death implications for workers and nearby communities.

These regulations exist to keep people safe. After the 2012 Chevron refinery explosion in Richmond sent a massive fireball into the sky and prompted thousands of residents to seek medical attention, California tightened refinery safety rules.

The reforms established important safeguards: strict oversight of hazardous materials and processes, common sense standards ensuring full worker participation in safety processes and engineering reviews, and workers’ right to stop hazardous operations.

We represent communities living near refineries and the workers who operate them. Together we are sounding the alarm — California must not allow oil billionaires and their lobbyists to rewrite refinery safety rules.

Recent disasters at California refineries — including major fires and explosions in Martinez, Benicia and The second in 2025 alone — show that the risks remain serious and urgent.

As oil executives pull back from maintaining aging refineries, the risk of deadly disasters increases, making these regulations more important than ever.

Refinery disasters don’t just affect workers and local communities. They affect Californians across the state when we fill up our tanks. Major accidents often cut fuel supplies, increase in gasoline prices.

The proposed changes to OSHA stem from a deal between state regulators and oil industry lobbyists — a secret deal crafted behind closed doors that excludes frontline workers and communities. The changes would undermine critical safety protections and give oil companies more control over rules designed to hold them accountable.

The most dangerous change targets a crucial aspect of refinery safety, employee involvement.

The proposal would allow oil executives to select workers to participate in developing safety plans and conducting critical safety reviews. In practice, this means that a worker who raises concerns about corroded pipes or dangerous chemical levels can be replaced with someone who is more likely to keep quiet.

It defies common sense. Refinery workers are responsible for the day-to-day operation and maintenance of these facilities.

They know which metals are used in each process and how much acid or additives may be used. They know which chemicals corrode and puncture pipes. Their knowledge is essential for disaster prevention.

Other revisions would reduce oversight of hazardous chemicals, narrowing what companies must analyze and fix.

These dangerous and carcinogenic substances do not disappear just because we decide to look the other way. They remain in place, threatening workers and surrounding neighborhoods.

Communities like Richmond and Carson are already hard hit by daily pollution from the refineries. They experience increased rates of asthma, cancer and other chronic diseases. Explosions and toxic incidents exacerbate these risks.

Existing safety rules were built with workers involved for a reason. Refinery workers want safe jobs. Refineries are inherently dangerous and a single failure can mean serious injury or death. Workers should be able to elect their own representatives who understand refining processes, prioritize environmental health and safety, and who will not bow to corporate pressure.

Fortunately, this deal can still be stopped. Governor Newsom’s regulators must reject these industry-driven rollbacks and work openly with workers and residents.

The future of safety at California refineries should be determined by public voices – not by oil billionaires and their lobbyists.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.