Deseret News | Residents express concerns about refinery

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Residents express concerns about refinery

was | 6:51 a.m. Nov. 6, 2009

the refinery there when they bought/built their houses? the refinery was ok then, but not now? take responsibilty for your own actions

Analyst1 | 7:48 a.m. Nov. 6, 2009

They built and bought their houses this close to the refinery. That's the bottom line.
Think about it.
Where's the due diligence on the part of the developer, the realtor, the buyer?
This is not to say that a refinery should not be "safe"; however, you wouldn't build your house on top of a rock at the top of a hill would you?

Roger S. | 8:59 a.m. Nov. 6, 2009

To those who say the homeowners can't complain, I disagree.

Yes, they bought or built homes near a refinery, but they had -- and still have -- every reason to expect the refinery to follow all safety practices necessary to keep the refinery and nearby property owners safe.

A good analogy is the gas pipeline systems that feed natural gas to every home and business. It's a very dangerous system, and has the potential for causing serious injury and death if not operated safely. Yet, if a part of the pipeline blew up and injured or killed people, no one would blame the injured home owners for using gas appliances.

The Woods Cross home owners have every reason to expect the refinery to use safe practices -- and to keep the area around it safe as well.

Comments continue below

Cosmo | 11:37 a.m. Nov. 6, 2009

A question please;does the refinery have a solid blast wall around it, to contain an explosion, and protect the surrounding homes, etc?

Would it not be more logical for all concerned, public, private, including insurance, to pursue such a venture?

Also, any new homes could be required to have metal roofs, and concrete siding, and insurance co's along with others could retro-fit existing homes, the same way.

to roger: | 11:53 a.m. Nov. 6, 2009

using a gas line as an example in this case does not make sense, each homeowner had the choice to live next to the refinery, accidents happen at every work place and refineries are no exception.

Anonymous | 1:20 p.m. Nov. 6, 2009

I would never buy a house by a refinery because even the best run ones have accidents and mishaps.

Carl | 1:45 p.m. Nov. 6, 2009

I agree with Roger.

As far as his analogy goes, every home owner has the choice to use gas appliances or electric appliances. If they choose gas, and then the gas line explodes, we can't say they accepted the risk of gas explosions and lay the blame on them.

I also agree that accidents happen at every work place and that refineries are no exception, but that just proves Roger's point. There are hazards next to every housing area, but we can't say they accept all those hazards just because they live near them. Home owners have a right to expect that all property owners -- including refinery owners -- will operate their business in a safe manner.

Anonymous | 3:31 p.m. Nov. 6, 2009

While it is not good these people's homes are damaged, I have to ask...

If you build a house in a flood plain, the house will evetually get flooded right?

That refinery didn't get built yesterday.

Who allowed building there in the first place? Greedy municipalities.

Even well run facilities have accidents people, wake up.

Zoning can solve this | 6:27 p.m. Nov. 6, 2009

That is why zoning is so important. A city could anticipate this kind of problem and zone accordingly. For instance, would you zone residential near heavy industrial? Well, obviously they did in this neighborhood and look at the problem.

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