Councilman’s Petition Drive to Target Acid at Oil Refinery

Alarmed by the potential for a “terrible disaster,” Torrance City Councilman Dan Walker launched an initiative campaign Wednesday to severely restrict use of an acutely toxic chemical at the Mobil Oil refinery.

Walker filed a formal notice of intent to circulate a petition that would ban the storage of more than 250 gallons of hydrofluoric acid at any site in Torrance.

The notice does not mention Mobil, but Walker left no doubt that his target is the sprawling refinery, where explosions, fires and accidents have claimed three lives during the past 20 months. The refinery uses the acid to boost octane in unleaded gasoline.

Refinery manager Wyman D. Robb disputed Walker’s contention that hydrofluoric acid poses a threat to residents of surrounding communities.

“I don’t believe it poses a potential for the sort of disaster that Mr. Walker is talking about. We have used the process in Torrance at the Mobil refinery for over 40 years,” Robb said. “We feel we know how to operate safely.”

Ironically, Walker’s announcement came on the same day that a storage tank at the refinery ruptured, sending small pieces of fiberglass insulation blowing through a city park, school yard and residential neighborhood to the north. No one was injured in the early-morning incident, the second problem with a Mobil storage tank in the last six days. Last week, foul-smelling but nontoxic hydrocarbon vapors were released when pressure became too great in a storage tank.

Walker’s initiative drive was sparked by a thunderous explosion that rocked the Mobil refinery in November, 1987. The blast, caused by an excess of hydrofluoric acid in a unit that produces unleaded gasoline, triggered a spectacular fire that burned for two days.

Walker noted that 100 pounds of hydrofluoric acid were released in the blast but none escaped the refinery grounds.

“Next time, we may not be so lucky,” Walker said. “The people of the city of Torrance must take steps to eliminate the danger from the storage of this dangerous acid; the people must do it by adopting an ordinance to make it a criminal offense to store this toxic chemical in large quantities that can endanger many human lives.”

Violators of the proposed ordinance would face a fine of up to $1,000 or up to six months in jail or both.

Alarming Test Results

In the aftermath of the explosion and fire, officials from local, regional and state agencies began examining the potential hazard posed by large-scale use of the chemical in a highly urbanized area. Walker noted that tests sponsored by the oil industry in the Nevada desert recently showed that a 1,000-gallon spill of hydrofluoric acid could produce a deadly hydrogen fluoride gas cloud that could kill everyone exposed to it within 5 miles.

Torrance Fire Department records show there were 29,762 gallons of the acid at the Mobil refinery last week. None of the other 21 industries in Torrance that use the chemical store more than 250 gallons, the department said.

“With the storage of tens of thousands of gallons in our community, there exists the potential for a terrible disaster that could kill or injure thousands of people,” Walker said in papers filed with the city clerk.

The veteran city councilman, who has acknowledged aspirations for higher office, asserted that hydrofluoric acid is as dangerous as the methyl isocyanate gas that claimed more than 2,000 lives at Bhopal, India, in December, 1984.

By filing the notice, Walker sets in motion a complex process that could lead to the ballot. After the measure is reviewed by City Atty. Kenneth Nelson and a legal notice is published, Walker will have 180 days to gather the signatures of 15% of the registered voters in Torrance.

If 11,256 voters sign the petitions, the City Council will have the option of adopting the measure as proposed or ordering a special election to let voters decide.

Robb said it would cost Mobil about $100 million and require a minimum of two years to convert the refinery to sulfuric acid, another catalyst that boosts octane. Walker’s proposed initiative would allow the council to grant extensions for up to two years to allow a company to reduce excess acid storage.

Both Mobil officials and other council members were caught off-guard by Walker’s surprise announcement.

At City Hall, some council members reacted with anger to the campaign, which comes just two weeks before the release of a long-awaited study of safety at Mobil and an opinion by former City Atty. Stanley E. Remelmeyer about the city’s power to regulate the refinery.

Councilman Tim Mock accused Walker of going off “half-cocked suggesting solutions when he doesn’t know the full scope of the problem.”

Echoing the sentiments of some other council members, Mock accused Walker of staging a “publicity scam” in advance of the council’s receipt of the studies of the refinery.

“I think Mr. Walker is looking at higher office,” Mock said. “He is trying to use this issue to promote himself. . . . This whole initiative process is premature.”

Mayor Katy Geissert accused Walker of attempting to preempt action by the council. “Mr. Walker has jumped the gun. He’s not acted . . . as a responsible elected official.”

Geissert said Walker never proposed at council sessions that the city limit hydrofluoric acid storage in the city. She noted that initiative campaigns usually are a last resort when a governmental body fails to act.

And she suggested that Walker “must have used a sizable amount of his campaign fund” to prepare the initiative drive. Walker confirmed that he used a portion of his campaign surplus, which stood at $77,867 on June 30, for legal work on the initiative. The most successful fund-raiser on the council, Walker built the surplus through extensive campaign contributions from developers, business interests and municipal employee unions.

In response to criticism from his colleagues, the councilman said simply: “The issue isn’t Dan Walker; the issue is the safety of hydrofluoric acid at Mobil Oil. There is a potential for catastrophe that this community does not need to accept.”