Torrance Seeks to Regulate Mobil

In the wake of a consultant’s harshly critical safety report on the Mobil Oil refinery in Torrance, City Council members said Wednesday that any action they take will hinge on a long-awaited legal opinion that outlines the city’s power to regulate the refinery.

Former Torrance City Atty. Stanley E. Remelmeyer, who has worked with consultants on the legal opinion since August, said it will be completed by Jan. 17.

There was little indication from city officials that Mobil’s pointed attack on the consultant’s report will affect the city’s concern about safety at the refinery. The report--written by Gage-Babcock & Associates and issued Saturday--was criticized in detail Wednesday by refinery manager Wyman Robb.

City Atty. Kenneth Nelson said Torrance officials want to meet with Mobil representatives to discuss the report and determine if it contains errors. No date for such a meeting has been set, he said.

But city officials said that if Mobil is to continue operating in Torrance, refinery management will have to be more sensitive to residents’ worries about safety.

Remelmeyer’s legal opinion will detail what power the city has to regulate and, if necessary, close the refinery. It will also consider whether Torrance can prohibit Mobil from using hydrofluoric acid, an acutely toxic chemical used to boost octane levels in unleaded gasoline.

In telephone interviews Wednesday, council members expressed skepticism when they were told about Mobil’s criticism of the Gage-Babcock study.

Councilman George Nakano said: “Whether the report is flawed or not, my question is: What are they going to do about all the incidents that have been going on?”

Mayor Katy Geissert said she did not know how to resolve the discrepancies between Mobil’s statements and the safety study. But Geissert said she hopes that the Gage-Babcock report and growing concern about the accidents at the refinery will make Mobil employees more careful.

“Nothing significant will happen without the cooperation of Mobil,” she said. “But it is clear that if (Mobil) is going to continue operating in this community, they will have to be more sensitive to the concerns of the citizens.”

Councilman Dan Walker, the council member most critical of the refinery, said Mobil is attacking vulnerable aspects of the report “as a catalyst to discredit the entire works.”

Walker, who is spearheading an initiative measure to ban storage of more than 250 gallons of hydrofluoric acid in the city, urged Mobil to switch to less-dangerous sulfuric acid to refine gasoline. Walker said the report confirms the need for the ballot measure.

City records show that 29,762 gallons of hydrofluoric acid were stored at the Mobil refinery last month. Industry studies say a release of 1,000 gallons of the chemical could be fatal as far as 5 miles away.

However, Torrance City Manager LeRoy Jackson said Wednesday that the report needed additional study. “I’m not going to prejudge the report or Mobil at this stage,” he said. “I’m going to take the report and analyze and ask some questions.”

The council did not discuss the report at its regular meeting Tuesday night because it was received too late to be put on the agenda.

But Councilman Mark Wirth asked the city staff to study the possibility of requiring some refinery workers to be certified by the city.

Wirth said he got the idea from a program being tried in Sacramento County that requires pipe fitters at refineries to pass written and performance tests before being allowed to work.

Later, Nelson said the city probably would be able to regulate such things as certification of employees and the quality of equipment used at the plant.

But he said it will be impossible for the city to regulate the poor attitude toward safety that the Gage-Babcock study blames for recent accidents at the refinery. “I don’t see how anyone can regulate management style,” Nelson said. “Part of the problem is attitudes. It is very difficult to regulate attitudes.”

Councilwoman Dee Hardison said Tuesday: “If the refinery is going to stay, it is going to have to be the safest it can be. . . . If not, we will do what we have to do.”

Also on Tuesday, Councilman Bill Applegate said: “I think (Mobil managers) will cooperate. They would be very foolish not to.”