Torrance May Regulate Hazardous Substances : Safety: The City Council may create an ordinance that would allow a city regulatory board to ban chemicals it deems too risky.

A proposal to regulate acutely hazardous chemicals in the city of Torrance moved forward this week when a committee recommended that the City Council hire a consultant to help design the necessary ordinance.

Torrance officials say the ordinance would give the city the power to ban chemicals it deems too risky. And it would be more far-reaching than current state guidelines for hazardous substances.

The ordinance would expand the role of an existing chemical board, making it responsible for reviewing the use of acutely hazardous chemicals. The board could grant a company a permit to use a chemical, require changes in the handling of that chemical--or simply decline to issue a permit.

“We have an inherent right to protect the citizens of our community against acutely hazardous materials,” said Councilman Dan Walker, a member of the City Council Public Safety Committee, which recommended Wednesday that the consultant be hired.

City staff developed a draft ordinance, and the consultant would add specific guidelines to be used in enforcing the law.

A spokesman for an industry group said it does not oppose the creation of the ordinance. He warned, however, that an ambiguous ordinance could affect Torrance’s relations with industry.

“It’s been a fantastic city because they’ve been able to achieve a balance between residential, industrial, light industrial and office space,” said Steve Whitehead, a Dow Chemical Co. employee and chairman of a special committee studying the ordinance for the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce.

“It would be disappointing and not good for the city if that balance was disturbed,” Whitehead said in an interview after the meeting Wednesday. “You have to be aware of that when you’re writing ordinances.”

The proposed ordinance is only one of several actions that followed a series of explosions, fires and accidents that have claimed three lives and caused more than a dozen injuries since 1987 at the 750-acre Mobil refinery in Torrance.

Considerable attention was focused on hydrofluoric acid after a massive explosion and fire in November, 1987, released an estimated 100 pounds of the toxic substance. Authorities said none of the acid escaped refinery grounds and no one was injured by the release.

The city of Torrance filed suit against Mobil in April, 1989, asking the court to declare the refinery a public nuisance and allow the city to regulate it. The case is due to go to trial in October.

A ballot initiative spearheaded by Walker attempted to ban the use of hydrofluoric acid at the refinery, but the measure lost by a 3-1 margin earlier this year.

Hydrofluoric acid is only one of a number of acutely hazardous materials being used in Torrance, city officials say. The state classifies about 360 chemicals as “acutely hazardous.”

The city began discussing the possibility of a chemical review ordinance in August, 1989, and city officials have spent months drafting the broad outlines of the ordinance.

The City Council is expected to take up the committee’s recommendation in early September. Although the council technically would be deciding whether to hire the consultant, several council members say that a “yes” vote would also signify approval of the ordinance in concept. The city has already allocated $100,000 for a consultant.

Several industry representatives attended the Wednesday committee meeting, although most of them did not comment on the proposal.

Whitehead, speaking for the Chamber of Commerce, tried unsuccessfully to persuade the committee to delay forwarding the ordinance to the council, saying he had not had time to review it. But committee members countered that the Wednesday meeting had been publicized well in advance.

“I’ve been announcing this thing for the last six weeks,” said Councilman Tim Mock, chairman of the committee.

Whitehead later said he is concerned about the standards that still need to be developed for the ordinance--a job that city officials are leaving for the consultant.

“I’d like to see guidelines and standards established before it’s submitted for approval by the City Council,” Whitehead said.

As envisioned by city officials, the Torrance ordinance would mesh with a state code that requires certain companies using hazardous materials to draw up a so-called Risk Management and Prevention Program (RMPP), a wide-ranging report of chemicals, equipment and controls.

Those companies would also be reviewed automatically by the city chemical board, said Torrance Fire Chief R. Scott Adams.

The chemical board then could approve a permit, deny it or ask a company to take steps to improve safeguards. A company that is denied a permit could appeal directly to the City Council.

However, Adams said, the proposed Torrance ordinance goes a step further than the state code.

“In practice, it’s entirely possible for a facility to do an RMPP that the city accepts and, at the same time, our community would say, ‘We don’t care; we think the risk is too great.’ That’s the crux of what’s happening here,” Adams said.

How the board would determine whether a chemical poses an unacceptable risk is still to be worked out.

The city’s three-member chemical board was formed in the late 1960s but has met rarely, city officials said. Members of the new board would represent the fire department, the building and safety department, and the city manager’s office.

City officials said they have not heard of any other cities that have developed an ordinance like the one proposed in Torrance. Spokesmen contacted Thursday at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National League of Cities and the California League of Cities said that although they are not familiar with similar ordinances, they could not confirm that the one in Torrance would be the first of its kind in the country.