Torrance Wants Outside Expert : Safety Assessment of Refinery Sought

Torrance officials are searching for a petroleum industry expert to conduct a full-fledged assessment of the safety risk to the community posed by the Mobil Oil Corp. refinery.

The city staff’s recommendation to hire an expert to prepare the risk assessment, called an industrial safety audit, was contained in a new report on safety questions posed by the explosion and fire that rocked the Mobil refinery on Nov. 24.

The thunderous blast, heard for miles, broke windows in nearby homes and businesses and sparked a spectacular fire that burned for two days.

Potential Health Danger

An investigation by Mobil and fire officials found that the explosion was caused by an excess amount of lethal hydrofluoric acid in a refinery unit that produces gasoline. The acid is used as a catalyst to boost the octane of gasoline.

Since the explosion, attention has been focused on the potential danger to public health in the event of a leak of hydrofluoric acid, which forms deadly hydrogen fluoride gas when it comes in contact with air.

Using results of a 1986 oil industry-sponsored test in the Nevada desert, the Environmental Policy Institute of Washington warned last December that a 1,000-gallon release of liquid hydrofluoric acid could produce a toxic gas cloud lethal to everyone exposed within 5 miles. An estimated 477,000 people live within 5 miles of the Mobil refinery.

The Torrance city staff report, distributed to the City Council this week, says the Mobil refinery used 173,810 gallons of hydrofluoric acid in 1987, weighing 1.46 million pounds.

A maximum of 29,762 gallons or 250,000 pounds of hydrofluoric acid is stored at the refinery, according to the report.

The refinery has a capacity to store 28,571 gallons of pure, undiluted hydrofluoric acid in a storage tank, although normal storage does not exceed 5,953 gallons, the report said. Additional quantities are stored in reactors and settling tanks that are part of the alkylation unit where the explosion occurred.

‘Doesn’t Sound Good’

Torrance City Councilman George Nakano, the top vote-getter in this month’s city election, endorsed the idea of hiring an outside consultant.

“The report doesn’t sound good,” Nakano said, noting there typically is almost 6,000 gallons of pure hydrofluoric acid at the refinery.

While walking precincts during the recent council campaign, Nakano said he heard residents, particularly in the northern part of Torrance, express concern about the refinery near their homes.

“They want to be assured that what exists there is safe,” Nakano said.

Torrance Mayor Katy Geissert said hiring an outside consultant to study the safety issue is “the only logical thing to do” since the staff report “poses as many questions as it answers.”

Geissert said the city needs outside expertise to assess the risk posed by use of hydrofluoric acid at the Mobil refinery. Most other refineries in the South Bay were built to use less hazardous sulfuric acid instead of hydrofluoric acid.

City Atty. Stanley Remelmeyer said he believes Torrance has the power to regulate and possibly ban the use of hydrofluoric acid for health and safety reasons if that authority is not preempted by state or federal laws.

Mobil refinery manager Wyman D. Robb questioned the need for an overall risk assessment.

“I don’t think that it’s necessary unless it’s important to reassure the public that this refinery has adequate safety procedures,” he said.

At the request of the Torrance Fire Department, Robb said, Mobil has agreed to prepare a risk-management program for hydrofluoric acid within 12 months. That study was sought under provisions of a new state law regulating acutely hazardous chemicals.

Meeting of Task Force

The Torrance staff report was released two days after the South Coast Air Quality Management District held the first meeting of a task force that will consider the phase-out of hydrofluoric acid at industrial operations in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

The government-industry task force was established last month in the aftermath of the Mobil explosion. In addition to Mobil, five other industrial plants handle or store significant quantities of hydrogen fluoride.

They are Allied Corp. in El Segundo, Powerine Co. and Golden West Refinery of Santa Fe Springs, Union Pacific Resource refinery in Wilmington and Jones Chemicals Corp. in Torrance.

AQMD spokeswoman Jacqueline Switzer said the task force will examine the consequences of an accidental release of hydrogen fluoride gas, the potential for release, adequacy of emergency response plans, transportation of the acid, alternative chemicals and the need for legislation.

In a meeting with Torrance officials, Robb said Mobil personnel are well aware of the dangers of hydrofluoric acid and are trained to deal with any emergency.

Mobil representatives also offered assurances that the refinery is being operated safely despite a 7-week-old strike by 450 members of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union.

Union members have warned residents near the refinery that the facility is unsafe in their absence. Mobil responded with a letter saying: “The union’s allegation that the refinery cannot be operated safely with management personnel is simply not true.”

Management personnel are “fully capable of handling all jobs normally performed by our union-represented employees,” Mobil said.

The city report says the Torrance Fire Department responded to a total of 127 incidents at the refinery in a nine-year period from Jan. 1, 1979, through Dec. 31, 1987. They included liquid spills, vapor releases, fires and explosions, medical incidents and industrial injuries.

The largest number of incidents in a year--35--were reported in 1987. Robb attributed the increase to the presence last year of a large construction work force building air pollution facilities.