A refinery-safety debate underway in Sacramento has a direct connection to Torrance.

California lawmakers are advancing legislation intended to preserve several workplace-safety protections for refinery employees while state regulators prepare to revise existing refinery rules.

Those protections include provisions allowing workers to refuse dangerous assignments, participate in safety reviews, report hazards anonymously and select their own representatives in certain safety-planning processes.

The proposed legislation has drawn opposition from several major oil companies and the Western States Petroleum Association.

Among those opposing the measure is PBF Energy, the parent company associated with the Torrance Refinery.

That makes what might otherwise look like a statewide regulatory dispute particularly relevant here.

Refinery safety has long been a sensitive issue in Torrance, particularly because of the 2015 explosion at the former ExxonMobil refinery, an incident later investigated by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. The federal investigation concluded that the explosion caused major refinery damage and scattered catalyst material into surrounding neighborhoods.

More recently, refinery transparency and safety records have again become the subject of local debate and litigation.

The current legislation still has to move through California’s legislative process, so the final rules are not yet settled.

But because Torrance is home to one of the state’s major operating refineries, residents have a considerably more direct stake in the outcome than most Californians.

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