70% in Poll Favor Banning Toxic Acid at Mobil : Election: Survey conducted by Assemblyman Gerald Felando finds support for March 6 ballot measure in Torrance.

A poll of Torrance residents indicates strong support for a March 6 ballot measure that would effectively ban the use of hydrofluoric acid at Mobil Oil’s Torrance refinery.

The poll, conducted by Assemblyman Gerald Felando (R-San Pedro) and released Wednesday, elicited responses from 488 voters among 6,000 surveyed. Of those, 70% said they would vote for the ban on hydrofluoric acid, which is considered acutely hazardous; 11% would vote against it, and 19% were unsure.

Felando favors such a ban but has not officially endorsed the ballot measure, said Tom Shortridge of the political consulting firm of Allan Hoffenblum & Associates, which conducted the poll for the Friends of Felando campaign committee.

Polls with a sample of 500 people selected scientifically to represent various groups in the public, have an estimated error factor of plus or minus 5%.

Conceding that the sample was not selected scientifically, Shortridge said 6,000 questionnaires with 18 questions, including half a dozen on the refinery, had been sent out in January to a random sample of Torrance households.

Torrance Councilman Dan Walker, sponsor of the signature drive that put the hydrofluoric acid measure on the ballot, said he was “very pleased” with the poll results.

But Mobil spokesman Tom Collins said: “The numbers look to me to be a little high.”

Collins declined to release results from Mobil’s public opinion surveys. “We are only using them for our own internal purposes,” he said.

Mobil Refinery Manager Wyman Robb has said it would cost $100 million to convert the refinery to use less volatile sulfuric acid. He also has said that the oil company is prepared to spend more than $500,000 to defeat the ballot measure and is likely to sue if the measure passes.

Although Mobil has developed an extensive public relations campaign to stress its commitment to safety--including refinery tours and publication of a tabloid newspaper mailed to Torrance residents--34% of those responding to the poll said they believe the Mobil refinery is not safe and 41% said they are unsure if the refinery is safe. About 21% said the refinery is as safe as it can be, and 4% said it is very safe.

The Felando poll also asked about a measure that other members of the Torrance City Council, who oppose Walker’s initiative, put on the March 6 ballot. The City Council measure asks voters to raise the city’s spending cap to cover legal costs of defending the city against a lawsuit from Mobil if the Walker initiative succeeds.

Of poll respondents, 50% said they would vote against the City Council measure, 27% would vote for it, and the rest were unsure.

In a follow-up question, 35% said the City Council measure made them less likely to favor the Walker initiative; 19% said more likely, and 46% were unsure.

An open-ended question asked what Mobil can do to improve its image.

Shortridge said answers varied from “Move!” and “Come over and wax my car twice a year” to demands that Mobil switch to sulfuric acid.

Many said they were tired of pollution from Mobil, particularly nighttime emissions. Others said they did not trust Mobil officials.

“Some said the image is not what is important, it is their safety record,” Shortridge said.

In criticizing the poll, Collins said mail-in surveys tend to measure the views of people with the most intense feelings and usually lack the precision of a scientifically designed survey.

But, he added: “The truth of the Felando survey is that it demonstrates what we believe to be true, too: that the people of Torrance are exceedingly interested in safety generally, specifically as it relates to the refinery.”

Shortridge said the Mobil questions were the last on the questionnaire, “so obviously we didn’t get people who were only concerned about Mobil.”

Meanwhile, in Sacramento, Assemblyman Curtis Tucker Jr. introduced a bill Tuesday to ban the use of more than 250 gallons of hydrofluoric acid in populated areas. Mobil typically has 29,000 gallons on hand.