A CHRONOLOGY
These were the events leading up to the decision by the South Coast Air Quality Management District to charge Mobil Oil Corp. with violating air quality rules at its Torrance refinery. The chronology is based on AQMD documents, Mobil Oil Corp. documents, interviews and testimony during AQMD hearings.
July-Aug., 1983: Robert L. Hinzie, Mobil’s assistant maintenance manager, recommends that Mobil consider replacing components of the electrostatic precipitator, a pollution control device to capture particulates before they can escape into the atmosphere.
Sept. 23: A minor explosion in the fluid catalytic cracking unit, which converts oil into gasoline. Mobil environmental staff engineer Ronald L. Wilkniss later testified, “We strongly suspected damage” to the precipitator.
Oct. 4: General Electric Co. inspects the precipitator and finds damage. Damaged components are removed but not replaced.
Oct. 7: GE makes another inspection. Major damage is found and more components are removed.
Oct. 26: GE completes its report to Mobil, recommending a complete rebuilding of the precipitator at a cost of $4.3 million. The report notes that damage to the precipitator was likely caused by operating it at 200 degrees in excess of its 650F design temperature.
Nov. 6-8: The precipitator is inspected again. More damaged components are found and removed from the precipitator.
Dec. 13: Additional damaged components are removed.
Dec. 20: Mobil and the AQMD conduct separate source tests to measure the particulates vented from the precipitator.
January, 1984: Hinzie, Mobil’s assistant maintenance manager, repeats his recommendation of the previous July or August calling for rebuilding the precipitator.
January: Hinzie notices that electrical wires inside the precipitator that are used to charge particulates have been stretched by high temperatures. “It appeared that all the wires, a great majority, were subjected to high temperatures (resulting) in metal fatigue. So, the possibility of failure is increased. . . . “
Jan. 23: Mobil gets the results of its own Dec. 20, 1983, source test. Mobil was exceeding the allowable limits of particulates by 100%. Mobil does not disclose its test results to the AQMD.
Feb. 10: Mobil conducts another private source test. Those results found Mobil emitting 68 pounds of particulates per minute. The legal limit is 30 pounds per minute. The AQMD is not told.
February: Wilkniss, testified later that he believed that he talked with Mobil lawyers and his superior, Ralph Speakman, about getting a variance from the AQMD that would allow Mobil to continue operating in violation of air quality rules until repairs can be made. No action is taken.
March 26: Mobil employee Joseph Mata submits to Torrance refinery management a plan to upgrade the precipitator.
June 11: The AQMD finally completes a report of findings from its Dec. 20, 1983, source test. The results indicate that Mobil was emitting seven times the allowable particulates, but the results are believed to be in error because the AQMD laboratory failed to subtract non-particulate matter in analyzing the sample.
June 13: General Electric sends Mobil a report from an new inspection. GE says major damaged was being caused by excessive temperatures and warned that “continued operation above the original structural design point may result in structural failures and the eventual loss of use of the equipment.”
June-July: Mobil finds that previous repairs did not last. A decision is made to seek corporate approval for a major rebuilding, to be done in the spring of 1986.
July: Mobil conducts another private source test that finds it still in violation of air quality rules, but does not inform the AQMD.
Aug. 7: The AQMD conducts a second source test.
Sept. 20: The AQMD gets results of Aug. 7 test. Mobil is found to be exceeding emission standards by more than 900%.
Nov. 2: The AQMD issues Mobil its first notice of violation, based on the Aug. 7 test.
Nov. 5: Mobil Torrance refinery manager J. W. Eisenmann approves precipitator upgrading project.
Mid-November: Hinzie testifies that the precipitator is “hardly operating at all.”
Nov. 27: Third source test by the AQMD finds continuing emission violations. Another test by Mobil also shows the company in violation.
Nov. 30: Mobil awards contract to GE for preliminary engineering for rebuilding the precipitator.
Dec. 15: Mobil headquarters in Fairfax, Va., gives final approval for $5-million rebuilding project, scheduled to begin in October, 1985.
Jan. 8, 1985: Mobil is served with a second notice of violation, based on Nov. 27, 1984, source test.
Jan. 9: Variance hearing. Mobil seeks to continue operations. No variance granted.
Jan. 16: The AQMD staff files a petition for an abatement order to close the portion of the Mobil refinery believed to be polluting.
Jan. 24: Rehearing on variance. The AQMD hearing board denies a variance on grounds that Mobil could have made the repairs much earlier but did not.
Feb. 6: Mobil shuts down its fluid catalytic cracking unit to make repairs in a move to avoid more serious enforcement efforts.
Feb. 19: Hearings begin on the AQMD staff’s request for an abatement order to keep Mobil’s cracking unit shut down until the refinery can meet conditions for restarting.
Feb. 22: Mobil threatens to restart its closed refining operations as soon as temporary repairs are completed even if the abatement hearing is not concluded.
March 1: Mobil and the AQMD reach agreement on an abatement order that allows Mobil to restart its closed refining operations immediately, conditioned on frequent source tests and a possible future closure order from the AQMD if emissions exceed standards. However, the district allows Mobil to use a more lenient test method in calculating emissions.
