Cal/OSHA cited Evergreen Oil for violations at its Newark, Calif., rerefinery, with proposed fines of $21,840, which the company has appealed. Out of operation since a March 29 fire, Evergreen is addressing the agencys concerns.
The rerefinery has 800 barrels per day of API Group II base oil capacity.
We are taking measures to prevent fires at the plant in the future, said Robert Gwaltney, Evergreens vice president of refinery operations. The reason for the appeal is to reserve our rights to continue to work with Cal/OSHA on the entire matter, not just the dollar amount of the fine. The appeal process is pending, according to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
Evergreens appeal is over the abatement of the violations in the citation, according to Cal/OSHA public information officer Erika Monterroza. You have a limited amount of time to do that, Monterozza told Lube Report. Putting a plan in place takes much longer than the time period that is set for abatement, so thats the reason why theyve appealed.
Monterroza said the agency conducted an inspection at the Newark facility. There was an explosion and fire that occurred from corrosion in piping between a heater and an exchanger, she said.
When the inspection was first opened, Evergreen had informed our Cal/OSHA Process Safety Management unit that they felt they met a storage exemption and werent required to follow process safety management guidelines. However, upon further analysis it was determined that Evergreen was not exempt. They stored 100,000 pounds of material, which was several times the threshold quantity of 10,000 pounds.
They are working with our inspector as well as with City of Newark in order to fix the issue, to get a corrosion program in place as well as a process safety management program in place, she continued. The City of Newark from my understanding is not going to issue them a permit to operate until such time.
Chemical Engineering Partners is an Irving, Calif.-based affiliate of Evergreen and is responsible for licensing the rerefining technology developed at the Evergreen facility to third parties. Were working closely with all the agencies to make sure were accommodating them, Mark Williams, CEP business development manager, told Lube Report. As they allow us, were making repairs and getting things ready, so when we get our permit to operate, we can turn it on and get going again.
He noted one of the rerefinerys trains is in scheduled turnaround, and the company is shooting to get train number two up and running again around Sept. 1.