Oil refiner Tesoro
[tess-AR-oh] is investigating the deadly [early] Friday morning
explosion in Anacortes [Washington]. But the company does not yet have
an explanation for the incident. The blast at the oil refinery killed
four Tesoro workers and gravely injured three others. Senior Vice
President Lynn Westfall said in a press conference [this
afternoon]Friday that the explosion occurred near a heating and cooling
area.
Lynn Westfall: "There's a bank of these units, called heat exchangers, that perform this heating and cooling function and periodically they need to be opened up and cleaned. And that was the simple procedure that was going on prior to...now, again, we do not know if there is any connection between the cleaning work that was going on and the incident because we haven't into the unit yet."
The press conference was broadcast on KING-5-TV. Investigators with the Washington Department of Labor and Industries are also on the scene. Last year, the agency fined Tesoro for 17 "serious" safety and health violations at the Anacortes oil refinery.
Copyright 2010 Northwest News Network
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