Torrance Urged to Adopt Initiative

The news that Torrance Councilman Dan Walker’s initiative on banning the use of hydrogen fluoride may have qualified for City Council or ballot action has brought the expected response from Mobil Oil. Wyman Robb, Mobil’s manager, is quoted as saying that the probability of a Bhopal-type disaster is “one in a billion years.” Maybe, but with Mobil’s recent accident record, the year might well be 1989 or ’90.

Mr. Robb’s statement reveals more than he realizes. His concentration on minimizing the probability of a disaster is tacit admission that the magnitude of a disaster caused by a major release of hydrogen fluoride would be Bhopal-size. There is a lesson too in his continued use of soothing syrup as the major attack on the real danger. Mr. Robb says, in effect, “There is no real danger.” Let’s credit him with integrity. He believes there’s no real danger, so why spend money to eliminate a non-existent peril? I can see corporate heads from Exxon, Ford, Cal Nev pipeline, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island nodding in agreement.

For the corporate officers, the bottom line is profit. For the people who live near Mobil, the priority is staying alive. The Torrance City Council should take steps to implement the initiative when it is certified. Arguments about the sponsor’s motives are irrelevant. A cloud of hydrogen fluoride will kill you whether you are running toward Sacramento or away from it.

The initiative is simpler, less drastic and quicker than the current court action undertaken by the city of Torrance. A measure coming from the popular initiative route may be harder to thwart by hostile court action. In any case, it does not contradict the council’s action, and two measures for defusing a ticking time bomb are better than one.

BERNIE HOLLANDER

Torrance