The Chevron refinery in Richmond remains crippled following the Aug. 6 fire, though repairs are reported to be on the fast track.

But was the fire was an aberration or the culmination of a long series of events?

"One of the things that lead to the disaster, Chevron kept running the unit for two hours after that leak was discovered and apparently didn't want to take it off line," said Greg Karras, senior scientist for the nonprofit advocacy group, Communities For A Better Environment.

Karras looked back at Chevron's other massive fire, five years ago which also started from a failed pipe in the same unit of the refinery.

"It was caused by corrosion from sulphur in the crude in a pipe," Karras said. "And, it was left in place for 20 years or more when it wasn't supposed to be."

KTVU obtained California Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection records for 25 inspections through the California Public Records Act. In it there are thousands of pages, mostly employee safety complaints going back seven years.

A well-respected independent petroleum engineer told KTVU that Chevron is the gold standard of refinery operations, so KTVU tried to interview Chevron inspections.

Chevron declined KTVU's request for an interview. Instead, it issued a written general statement saying that it cooperated with Cal OSHA on inspections and encourages workers to identify or stop work on safety issues without fear of reprisal. But Chevron would not answer questions about specific issues.

A year ago, a ruptured tube caused another fire.

Cal OSHA noted that engineers were surprised at the amount of corrosion.

Operators said a 33 percent increase in high sulphur crude oil processed took a toll on the equipment.

Karras said Chevron went to higher sulphur, an inherently more corrosive crude.

"Workers started finding corrosion accelerating everywhere," he said. "It's not just the crude unit ... but multiple part of this refinery are being corroded from the inside out."

Wende Carlson is Cal OSHA'S regional manager. She said the refineries are responsible for reviewing all of their elbows and piping systems. "It's not our responsibility," she said.

When asked if the elbow was ever inspected during that period of time to promote worker safety or at least to keep the plant running, Carlson responded, "Not that I'm aware of." Again, Chevron had no comment.

Cal OSHA also noted that some workers said they won't go over the head of their supervisors for fear of reprisals.
That's something Chevron has long denied, saying it has an anonymous hotline and ombudsman.

But Karras counters, "I know that refinery workers at Chevron and other refineries do fear retaliation and for good reason."

Another case lasted from 2003 to 2008. Despite the company's own inspections, OSHA said Chevron failed to repair a corroded, leaking pipe, carrying cancer-causing tetraethyl lead.

Karras worked on that case and says, Chevron left that line, a pipe, standing in water for years. "They were warned about it," he said. "They had a leak. They were told to fix it. They said they would fix it. They ran this this toxic pipeline to failure."

OSHA cited Chevron for putting off repairs for another year until the pipe failed a "fitness for service" inspection. Carslon explained that was why they cited Chevron for deferred maintenance.

Karrras questioned what Chevron was fined. "What was their fine? Less than a speeding ticket on the freeway."
Chevron had no comment.

Then, five years ago, a valve failed burning an employee. Cal OSHA's inspection found that the valve had never been inspected since it was installed 31 years before.

That worried Karras who said, "There's probably a million valves, fittings, flanges in this one refinery alone."

The question remains, how many other valves are installed decades ago, that have gone uninspected with the condition unknown?

Once again, Chevron had no comment.