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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Federal regulators have determined that a lack of safeguards during a maintenance shutdown led to a 2018 explosion at an oil refinery in Superior. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board released a final report last week on the April 2018 explosion at the refinery, Wisconsin Public Radio reported Wednesday. Calgary-based Husky Energy owned the refinery at the time of the explosion. The blast injured 36 workers. Fears of a hydrofluoric acid leak forced 2,500 residents to evacuate. No acid leaked but a tank containing hot asphalt spilled 17,000 barrels into the facility. The asphalt caught fire, sending up a plume of black smoke that released thousands of pounds of flammable hydrocarbon vapor. The explosion caused about $550 million in damage to the refinery. According to the CSB report, the refinery was shutting down a gasoline-making unit when the explosion occurred. Investigators determined that the facility failed to implement safeguards such as creating a steam barrier in a fluid catalytic cracking unit used to make gasoline and having operators purge air from equipment within the system. A slide valve that allowed air to flow into the unit was severely eroded. Refinery workers didn’t understand how to shut […]
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