Silver Eagle to start refining on Tuesday; resident concerns linger

WOODS CROSS — Silver Eagle Refining plans to start up a suspended crude-oil unit at its Woods Cross Refinery on Tuesday.

Saturday, residents in the Woods Cross neighborhood near the refinery began receiving fliers on their doors to notify them of the startup.

Various homes were damaged Nov. 4 when a hydrogen pipe exploded in a fireball. The refinery's insurance company has received 271 damage claims, and the refinery shut down its refining operations nearly two weeks later following a recommendation from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board and regulators.

Since that time, Silver Eagle has been working closely and cooperatively with Utah Occupational Safety and Health and the CSB to develop a protocol for the safe restart of its refining operations, according to a news release from the company.

The protocol outlines specific tasks and procedures to be completed before starting up the refinery's four units, the release states. These tasks and procedures include hiring a third-party inspection company to review the equipment, piping, systems and procedures to confirm they are fit for service, improve the mechanical integrity program, update operating procedures and train personnel.

"We have been working nonstop since the November incident and are pleased that we can now start up Crude-Oil Unit One and have safe ongoing operations of that unit," said Mike Redd, Silver Eagle Refining vice president of refining and operations, in the news release. "Crude-Oil Unit One was not damaged in the explosion and has been thoroughly inspected since then."

The refinery has also been losing an estimated $800,000 a day since it shut down.

Tuesday's startup will enable the refinery to begin processing 3,000 to 5,000 barrels of crude oil into gasoline, diesel and wax.

During a town-hall meeting Tuesday, Redd shared a report with residents that discussed the worst-case scenario if the crude refining unit suffered the same fate as the dewaxing unit that exploded.

But no startup date was discussed then. The refinery had previously set Jan. 21 as a target date to start the crude unit, but pushed the date back because protocols weren't in place yet.

Tuesday's meeting left many of the 20-plus residents in attendance with lingering concerns about the refinery's safety and future operations.

Redd said he didn't think Tuesday's meeting would allay residents' concerns.