LIMA — Chris Zeigler, the Executive Director of the American Petroleum Institute of Ohio, stopped in at The Lima News to explain the API’s stance on House Bill 235.
The High Hazard Training Certification Act (House Bill 235) would replace flexible business discretion in Ohio’s oil refineries with the government, mandating them to hire 80 percent of their contracted or subcontracted construction workers from apprenticeship programs by 2024.
The API and “Those in opposition to HB 235 are committed to working with building trades, or any other contractors, to address workforce issues related to Ohio refineries rather than unnecessarily putting the legislature in the middle of a bill that unfairly targets safety. The coalition requests that HB 235 be tabled indefinitely to instead pursue a comprehensive discussion on workforce development in Ohio and directly address the underlying issues related to HB 235,” said Zeigler.
There are, according to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, approximately 20,000 stationary sources in the state of Ohio. This bill, however, identifies only three refineries that would be affected by this legislation. Given the definitions and exceptions under the bill, it appears to apply to stationary sources that are owned or operated by three of the four petroleum refineries in the state that produce over 120,000 barrels. The bill defines stationary source as “buildings, structures, facilities, and installations that emit or may emit regulated air pollutants or any pollutant listed in the ‘Clean Air Act’ other than emissions resulting directly from internal combustion engines.”
In testimony given in Columbus, Mike Knisley, the Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council which “represents nearly 100,000 building and construction tradespeople—men and women that put on a hardhat and go to work at a construction job site here in Ohio every day,” the safety provisions in the High-Hazard Training Certification Act are critical for the safety of workers who build and maintain Ohio’s oil refineries.
Knisley, in favor of the bill’s passing, told the committee, “When a company like Cenovus comes in and finds a cheaper construction option, they push local workers – with their exceptional safety and specialized skills training – to the side. Apprentices in the Plumber-Pipefitters joint labor-management training program do 246 hours a year in the classroom for their apprenticeship – in the field, they get 2,000 hours. We provide regular training upgrades on the industrial and refining facilities where we do most of our work.
“The local tradespeople we send to the Lima refinery know each unit, they know lock-out/tag-out, confined spaces. It’s all dangerous stuff. If you walk into that refinery without having drilled on these protocols, it can be deadly. You can’t just walk in off the street or even from an out-of-state refinery and know the place. Experience matters,” Knisley said.
Reach Dean Brown at 567-242-0409
