AQMD Votes to Ban Hydrofluoric Acid : Environment: The chemical, used at oil refineries, could cause a ‘Bhopal-like disaster,’ a board member says.

Declaring that the risks of hydrofluoric acid are unacceptable in urban Los Angeles County, the South Coast Air Quality Management District on Friday became the first government agency in the country to move toward phasing out the hazardous chemical at four oil refineries and a major industrial plant.

Despite objections from industry, the air quality agency set a tentative deadline of Dec. 31, 1994, for eliminating the acid at the five largest users in Los Angeles County--four oil refineries and a refrigerant manufacturing plant.

“Since a less lethal substitute for (the acid) is generally available, we can totally eliminate the risk of a Bhopal-like disaster due to this deadly chemical,” said Edward Camarena, the AQMD’s deputy executive director, referring to the December, 1984, disaster when toxic gas leaked from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, killing more than 2,000 people.

The 11-1 vote came after a two-year study triggered by major oil refinery accidents involving the acid in Torrance and Texas. Only Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, an AQMD board member who argued that the move would eliminate jobs, voted against the proposal.

Before the proposal can be finalized, the AQMD will hold public hearings and draft an environmental impact statement in a process that could take up to a year.

Arguing for the move, Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude said the acid “has been demonstrated to be a serious threat to public health. It is a gas that floats near the ground, causing serious health problems. If we were not to proceed . . . we would be irresponsible.”

After the vote, Torrance Mayor Katy Geissert, who had urged the AQMD to eliminate bulk use of the substance, said she was pleased that it was so one-sided.

In recommending the phase-out, AQMD staff members stressed the extreme toxicity and volatility of the substance, which vaporizes at room temperature and is more poisonous than hydrogen cyanide, the gas used in California’s death chamber. Fumes from one teaspoon of hydrofluoric acid inside a small apartment could result in death or serious injury.

The major users, all of them located near residential neighborhoods, typically have thousands of gallons of hydrofluoric acid in storage and in process installations. The AQMD said the five sites normally have 120,000 gallons on hand.

Staff members presented computerized predictions indicating a major release from any of the five facilities would spread life-threatening concentrations for several miles--even if water sprays and other safety equipment worked flawlessly. The staff said that thousands of residents near the five facilities could suffer respiratory ailments, blistering and other health problems.

Camarena said a review of accidents involving hydrofluoric acid proves that major releases can and do occur, despite safety precautions--even though industry risk assessments calculate that such accidents are extremely unlikely.

“Even with training, even with safety equipment, you can never eliminate human error,” Camarena said.

Converting the four refineries to less-volatile sulfuric acid will cost $100 million--amounting to 1 to 2 cents a gallon of gasoline if passed on to consumers--according to AQMD estimates. The AQMD said the refrigerant manufacturer would have to relocate to a new site in a less populous area, a move that could cost $18 million, because there is no known alternative for its process.

The four refineries currently using the substance are the Mobil refinery in Torrance, Ultramar in Wilmington and Golden West and Powerine in Santa Fe Springs. The refineries use hydrofluoric acid as a catalyst to boost the octane of unleaded gasoline. Allied Signal uses it to manufacture hydrochlorofluorocarbon refrigerants in its plant in El Segundo.

Attorney Sharon Rubalcava, representing the four oil refineries, argued that the risks of using hydrofluoric acid are minimal and that ongoing risk-reduction programs will lead to even greater safety. She said converting to sulfuric acid would increase transportation risks and create air pollution because it takes 100 times as much acid to do the same process.

Rubalcava also contended the air quality agency lacks the legal authority to regulate the acid, a contention agency attorneys disputed.

Federal investigators have said that human error was the cause of the 1987 accidents at the Mobil refinery in Torrance and the Marathon refinery in Texas City, Tex., that triggered the AQMD’s study of hydrofluoric acid.

Dr. Paul Papanek of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, who headed the AQMD task force studying the acid, said at Friday’s meeting that 4,000 people living near the Marathon refinery were exposed to dangerously high concentrations of acid fumes during the accident. He quoted one observer who said, “The plume looked like a silver blanket creeping along the ground at knee height.”

One thousand of the people ended up in hospital emergency rooms and more were turned away because of overcrowding, he said. More than 100 were hospitalized and some show continuing health effects, he said.

During the Mobil explosion, which was felt five miles away, 100 pounds of acid were released, but the fumes did not affect anyone outside refinery grounds.