http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011508577_refineryblast03m.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/zoom/html/2011511591.html KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES
A tower charred in the explosion is seen Friday from outside a gate at the Anacortes Tesoro oil refinery.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/zoom/html/2011511592.html KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Across the water: The shock wave of the Tesoro refinery blast carried across Fidalgo Bay and shook homes in nearby Anacortes neighborhoods.
Lynn D. Westfall, Tesoro chief economist and senior vice president for external affairs, pauses while reading the names of the dead during a news conference Friday. Westfall traveled from Texas to deal with the crisis.
Dave Yoder, left, owner of the Brown Lantern Ale House in Anacortes, recalls customer Daniel Aldridge, one of those killed in Friday's explosion. He said Aldridge was excited to get a refinery job after construction work dried up.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/flatpages/video/mediacenterbc3.html?bctid=75800138001
Tesoro Corp.'s Anacortes refinery
Workforce: 360 full-time employees. Tesoro says the plant generates $33 million annually in salaries, wages and property taxes.
Refining capacity: 120,000 barrels per day. Third-largest of five Washington state refineries.
Safety record: Washington State Labor and Industries cited Tesoro for 17 "serious" safety and health violations in 2009, which carried proposed penalties totaling $85,700. That was reduced to three violations and a $12,250 settlement, according to a summary on the U.S. Department of Labor's Web site.
Three contract workers hospitalized in 2006 after being exposed to Naphtha, a flammable liquid produced in the refining process. A boilermaker was killed in 2002 while doing maintenance work.
The company says it received awards from the National Petrochemical and Refining Associations in 2006 and 2007 for improving its safety award.
Parent company: Tesoro Corp., based in San Antonio, operates seven refineries nationwide. Last year, Tesoro reported a loss of $140 million on revenue of $16.8 billion.
Sources: Tesoro fact sheet, financial reports and Washington State Labor and Industries
Compiled by Seattle Times reporter Hal Bernton
YouTube | rerickson
Courtesy of Cliff DesPeaux
Susan Gregg-Hanson speaks about patients from Anacortes disaster from Cliff DesPeaux on Vimeo.
ANACORTES — The two major March Point oil refineries whose puffing towers sit across a narrow bay from downtown Anacortes are an intimate part of this community — the source of year-round paychecks, even in a troubled economy.
But workers and their loved ones know that with those jobs comes risk.
"We have a saying out there: We don't bake cookies, we boil oil. It can be dangerous," said a 15-year refinery worker. "It's a sad day, but we know that it can happen."
The worker, speaking anonymously, is employed at the Shell refinery, immediately south of the Tesoro plant where an early Friday explosion and fire fatally injured five workers and left two others badly burned.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/zoom/html/2011511591.html KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES
A tower charred in the explosion is seen Friday from outside a gate at the Anacortes Tesoro oil refinery.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/zoom/html/2011511592.html KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Across the water: The shock wave of the Tesoro refinery blast carried across Fidalgo Bay and shook homes in nearby Anacortes neighborhoods.
Lynn D. Westfall, Tesoro chief economist and senior vice president for external affairs, pauses while reading the names of the dead during a news conference Friday. Westfall traveled from Texas to deal with the crisis.
Dave Yoder, left, owner of the Brown Lantern Ale House in Anacortes, recalls customer Daniel Aldridge, one of those killed in Friday's explosion. He said Aldridge was excited to get a refinery job after construction work dried up.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/flatpages/video/mediacenterbc3.html?bctid=75800138001
Tesoro Corp.'s Anacortes refinery
Workforce: 360 full-time employees. Tesoro says the plant generates $33 million annually in salaries, wages and property taxes.
Refining capacity: 120,000 barrels per day. Third-largest of five Washington state refineries.
Safety record: Washington State Labor and Industries cited Tesoro for 17 "serious" safety and health violations in 2009, which carried proposed penalties totaling $85,700. That was reduced to three violations and a $12,250 settlement, according to a summary on the U.S. Department of Labor's Web site.
Three contract workers hospitalized in 2006 after being exposed to Naphtha, a flammable liquid produced in the refining process. A boilermaker was killed in 2002 while doing maintenance work.
The company says it received awards from the National Petrochemical and Refining Associations in 2006 and 2007 for improving its safety award.
Parent company: Tesoro Corp., based in San Antonio, operates seven refineries nationwide. Last year, Tesoro reported a loss of $140 million on revenue of $16.8 billion.
Sources: Tesoro fact sheet, financial reports and Washington State Labor and Industries
Compiled by Seattle Times reporter Hal Bernton
YouTube | rerickson
Courtesy of Cliff DesPeaux
Susan Gregg-Hanson speaks about patients from Anacortes disaster from Cliff DesPeaux on Vimeo.
ANACORTES — The two major March Point oil refineries whose puffing towers sit across a narrow bay from downtown Anacortes are an intimate part of this community — the source of year-round paychecks, even in a troubled economy.
But workers and their loved ones know that with those jobs comes risk.
"We have a saying out there: We don't bake cookies, we boil oil. It can be dangerous," said a 15-year refinery worker. "It's a sad day, but we know that it can happen."
The worker, speaking anonymously, is employed at the Shell refinery, immediately south of the Tesoro plant where an early Friday explosion and fire fatally injured five workers and left two others badly burned.
