Alternative Proposed for Refinery Measure

A Torrance city councilman is proposing a ballot measure to control all acutely toxic chemicals in the city and head off a colleague’s initiative aimed at regulating the Mobil Oil refinery.

Councilman Tim Mock said Friday that he wants Torrance voters to have an alternative to Councilman Dan Walker’s initiative that would severely restrict the use of acutely toxic hydrofluoric acid at the Mobil refinery.

“I’m concerned Dan Walker’s initiative will pass,” Mock said. “I’m concerned about the liability” for the city should the initiative win voter approval and be challenged by Mobil in court.

All Industries

Mock said he will ask his colleagues Tuesday night to authorize the city attorney to draft a measure that would regulate all acutely hazardous chemicals used by industry in Torrance, not just hydrofluoric acid.

Mock said there are “other toxic chemicals in the city that are just as deadly as hydrofluoric acid. . . . I want review of all these materials.”

Under his proposal, which has yet to be written, all industries in Torrance that use chemicals defined as “acutely toxic” under federal regulations would be required to obtain a conditional-use permit. Acutely toxic chemicals have been determined in scientific tests to pose a risk of serious injury or death after exposure to sufficient quantities. Levels of exposure vary with the chemical.

The city, through a panel of experts, would review for safety the chemical’s use on a case-by-case basis. Industries would be required to pay for the process through permit fees.

Mock said he was not suggesting that industry be barred from storing or using acutely toxic chemicals. “All I want to know is if they’re safe,” he said.

The two-term councilman conceded that he was trying to fashion a solution to the political problem posed by Walker’s initiative, which is aimed solely at hydrofluoric acid.

Torrance Mayor Katy Geissert said she would not rule out putting a countermeasure on the ballot but expressed some reservation about the sweeping nature of Mock’s proposal. “It may be a very difficult thing to handle,” she said.

Geissert said she believes that the city’s lawsuit seeking to have the refinery declared a public nuisance is the best way to proceed in regulating Mobil.

An excess of hydrofluoric acid in a refinery unit that produces unleaded gasoline caused a thunderous explosion and two-day fire at Mobil in November, 1987.

Tests in the Nevada desert sponsored by the oil industry found that a 1,000-gallon spill of the acid could produce a ground-hugging gas cloud lethal to all exposed within five miles.

Walker said Friday that within three weeks he will file enough signatures to place his initiative on the March, 1990, municipal ballot. If the signatures are valid, voters will be asked to decide the measure’s fate when they vote on four council positions.

Walker labeled Mock’s proposal as a barely disguised attempt to head off his initiative. And he suggested that rather than trying to solve a specific problem, Mock is trying to “broaden the problem to such an extent that you can’t address it.”

“It’s certainly an effort to take the focus off of hydrofluoric acid and . . . put it elsewhere,” Walker said. “It had been my hope that when the council sees 10,000 signatures of registered Torrance voters who are in favor of this initiative . . . the council would adopt the initiative.”

Mock said the 250-gallon limit on hydrofluoric acid in Walker’s initiative is arbitrary and capricious and he predicted that it will not be able to withstand a legal challenge from Mobil.

Mobil contends that its use of the acid at the refinery poses almost no risk to the community.