Oil Refinery Fined By Cal/OSHA

Evergreen Oil has been fined about $22,000 by Cal/OSHA that damaged the refinery’s Newark waste oil collection facility and injured a worker.

Evergreen plant manager Bob Gwaltney said the company plans to appeal the fine. The appeal is procedural so that the company can contest the amount of the fine, Gwaltney said, and is not an attempt to deflect responsibility. 

“It’s not to dispute the applicability of what they’re requiring us to do,” Gwaltney said. “We need to have that option to (dispute the amount), and the only way to do that is to file an appeal.”

Gwaltney said the company is complying with safety requirements implemented by Cal/OSHA (the state's Division of Occupational Safety and Health, the County Environmental Health Department and other agencies.

Investigators determined when a pipe in the facility split open, allowing de-gassed oil to escape and burst into flames.

The oil re-refining portion of the plant remains closed, though the facility’s other operations, including solid waste and wastewater collection, remain open.

The facility also continues to collect discarded motor oil. Because the plant is not presently capable of reprocessing the oil, Evergreen is selling it into the fuels market, Gwaltney said.

City Manager John Becker has said that Evergreen from various agencies, including Cal/OSHA, Alameda County Fire, Alameda County Health and the city's Community Development Department, before re-refining of oil can resume.