Mobil Plans Big Festivity at Beleaguered Refinery

To the unease of Torrance officials, Mobil Oil plans to invite thousands of the refinery’s neighbors to party at its beleaguered plant on Oct. 7. There will be jugglers, clowns, hot dogs, hamburgers, a Ferris wheel, a carousel and booths about the refinery.

It will all be free and refinery officials, who have yet to send out the invitations for the $200,000 bash, expect as many as 12,000 people to attend.

Mobil officials say it has nothing to do with a measure on the ballot in March, which would force the refinery to stop using hydrofluoric acid, a highly toxic chemical, or a lawsuit by the city that seeks to declare the refinery a public nuisance subject to city regulation.

Rather, Mobil officials say, the festivities are the latest in a concerted image-building effort that has included a tabloid publication about the refinery, bus tours of the plant and advertisements in local newspapers.

City officials learned of the party proposal in a July 25 letter from Mobil seeking city assistance for crowd and traffic control.

City Atty. Ken Nelson, whose staff is researching what permits Mobil would need for the party, said the idea of having thousands of people attend a party on refinery grounds “makes me very uncomfortable” because of safety concerns.

“We are looking at it very closely,” he said. The refinery, he added, is “not exactly your local winery.”

The city’s lawsuit cites a host of troubles at the plant, including state and federal investigations into safety and health problems, as well as a series of explosions, fires, fatal accidents and gas releases.

Mayor Katy Geissert described Mobil’s party plans as “very strange. They expect 10,000 to 12,000 at a facility under which the very best of conditions is a dangerous facility and where extreme precautions need to be taken. . . .

“I know they are putting out a great effort on their public relations,” she said, “but I’m not sure this is what I would have thought up. It sounds like something you would have for the opening of a mall.”

Mobil Says It’s Safe

Mobil spokesman Jim Carbonetti rejected suggestions that the party is ill-advised for safety reasons.

“We have 830 employees working here,” he said. “If we thought it was dangerous, we wouldn’t be working here. We don’t think we are endangering anybody’s life.”

The spokesman also said Mobil does not envision the party as a demonstration--to be used later in the city’s lawsuit--that thousands of people of all ages consider the refinery a safe place and not a public nuisance.

“I don’t think that has even been considered,” Carbonetti said.

He added that the reason for the party is that Mobil is merely following the advice of City Council members “that we should communicate better to the community, and this is one of the ways we are doing it. . . . The timing was picked to get the most people. . . . It happens to be our 60th anniversary.”

Crowd Control

Despite the spate of bad publicity about the refinery, Mobil expects so many people that it is worried about handling traffic and crowds. That prompted the letter from Mobil Security Director Daniel J. Malinowski to the city on July 25.

“It is estimated that attendance will be approximately 10,000 to 12,000 persons for that day,” wrote Malinowski, noting that the Police Department had already agreed to help with traffic. “In order to allow everyone to have a good time and provide for their safety, we request permission to borrow approximately 100 barricades and/or traffic cones for crowd control and traffic flow purposes.”

Arthur Horkay, Torrance transportation director, said the city has begun discussions with Mobil about the use of the cones.