Disputes Hold Up Probe Of Kaiser Plant Explosion Investigating Agency’S Jurisdiction Challenged

Kaiser Aluminum Corp. has begun $20 million in repairs to its Gramercy, La., refinery damaged in a July explosion.

But the federal investigation of the cause of the accident is far from complete, and a dispute over a federal hearing has moved the matter to federal court.

More than 20 salaried Kaiser workers refused to testify at the hearing conducted last month by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

In recent weeks, attorneys representing the Kaiser workers challenged the jurisdiction of the federal agency.

“Kaiser joined in that action with them,” said Scott Lamb, a spokesman for Kaiser. “But the company has not advised these people one way or the other.”

He explained that the company was concerned with “a certain procedural looseness,” in MSHA’s investigation. “MSHA has not conducted this type of hearing for more than 20 years,” Lamb said.

Rodney Brown, an MSHA spokesman, said it’s true the agency hasn’t had such a hearing in a long time. “But it has been a long time since such an accident has had so much of an effect on the outside community,” he said.

More than 2,000 people living near the plant filed property damage claims, he said.

MSHA and Kaiser took the issues to Judge Carl Barbier of U.S. District Court in Louisiana. The judge decided Oct. 1 that MSHA did have jurisdiction and that Kaiser witnesses should testify. He also decided the witnesses should get time to prepare their answers and talk with their attorneys before responding to MSHA’s questions.

“We were getting to a point where witnesses that we called were not showing up for the hearings,” Brown said. “We felt like we were literally wasting our time until we could get a judge’s order to help facilitate the hearing along.”

Up to that point only one Kaiser salaried worker testified.

The lockout at Kaiser has affected 2,900 workers, about 345 of them at Gramercy. Those at the other four plants, including 2,100 locked-out workers in Spokane, are closely watching the investigation.

“This is definitely unusual,” said Sam Thomas, a spokesman for the Steelworkers’ Union. “In most cases where there have been accidents, the company has encouraged employees to cooperate fully.

“MSHA is working to come up with a cause,” he said. “But there’s no way without that testimony that the full story of what was going on in the plant the night of the explosion or prior to the explosion will surface.”

Lamb said the company has cooperated with MSHA, providing 8,000 pages of documents and repeatedly explained the aluminum manufacturing process to investigators. “We have been cooperative, and we do continue to cooperate,” Lamb said.

Until the accident, Gramercy was run by salaried and temporary employees. Now Kaiser has closed the plant until it can recover somewhat from the damage. It plans to partially open by mid-2000.

Kaiser’s board of directors decided last week to spend up to $20 million on the first phase of rebuilding the damaged portion.

“The insurance coverage, we still believe was broad and deep and will largely offset the costs at Gramercy,” Lamb said.

The MSHA hearings are scheduled to resume Oct. 12 in Convent, La.