Mobil Oil Draws 6th Citation for Odor at Torrance Refinery

For the sixth time in less than two years, Mobil Oil Corp. has been cited by the South Coast Air Quality Management District after odors from its Torrance refinery sparked numerous complaints.

A strong odor of rotten eggs in the air Wednesday morning prompted several calls to authorities, including one woman who told the Torrance Fire Department that she was “sick to her stomach” from the smell.

“We were able to trace the odor back to the refinery,” district spokesman Ron Ketcham said. “The winds were right for Mobil to be the culprit.”

After inspecting the refinery in response to the complaints, a district inspector issued a public-nuisance citation to Mobil for hydrogen sulfide odors caused by too much gas being sent up an exhaust stack and not burned completely.

The citation carries no penalty. A decision will be made in a few weeks on whether the AQMD will take civil action or refer the case to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office for possible prosecution, Ketcham said.

Al Albergate, spokesman for the district attorney’s office, said no action has been taken on previous citations of Mobil because “we’ve never had enough of a case to file anything against them.”

However, 21 people told the AQMD inspector they were willing to testify in court about Wednesday’s odors.

Thomas Gregory, manager of safety and training at the refinery, said Mobil has “not been able to identify a particular problem” but an investigation is continuing.

Gregory said Mobil did receive several phone calls just before the AQMD inspector arrived, but could not find a problem inside the facility, which refines crude oil into gasoline.

But Ketcham said an overload in part of the refinery known as a zinc thermal oxidizing flare is believed to have been responsible for Wednesday’s problem.

“They were pushing too much gas into the flare and you get incomplete combustion, and the odors are not destroyed and they go out into the surrounding area and create a problem,” Ketcham said.

The incident marked the sixth time since January, 1986, that AQMD has cited Mobil for a public nuisance because of odors from the Torrance refinery.

Ketcham said the last citation, Feb. 24, also involved a zinc oxidizing flare, but the four other violations last January and in January, March and August, 1986, all involved problems with other equipment.

“That is more than we would like to see,” Ketcham said. But he added that “a history of six violations over a period of two years is not that serious for a complex like Mobil. It’s not that much out of the ordinary for most refineries, and some refineries are worse.

“The problem (Wednesday) was very short-lived and was corrected quickly,” he said.

According to the AQMD, the Mobil refinery is the third-largest stationary source of air pollution in the South Coast air basin, generating an average of 16.6 tons of emissions a day in 1986.

The top four industrial pollution sources are all located in the South Bay. Chevron’s El Segundo refinery holds the No. 1 one spot, followed by Arco’s Carson refinery, Mobil’s Torrance refinery and Texaco’s Wilmington refinery.

A yearlong investigation by the district attorney’s office for an alleged criminal conspiracy by Mobil to violate air pollution laws was dropped in April, 1986.