Tucker Shelves Bill on Acid Limits

Assemblyman Curtis Tucker Jr. (D-Inglewood) has shelved his bill calling for statewide curbs on hydrofluoric acid, an acutely hazardous chemical used in the manufacture of refrigerants and some brands of unleaded gasoline.

Tucker said he decided to make the move after the South Coast Air Quality Management District voted April 5 to phase out bulk use of the acid locally by 1999 unless a safe form of the substance is developed by 1994.

He said he had hoped that lawmakers would approve statewide curbs on the acid, which is used in the South Bay at Mobil’s Torrance refinery, the Ultramar refinery in Wilmington and the Allied Signal Chemical plant in El Segundo. But the AQMD rule, Tucker said, preempted that approach.

“My colleagues would not have wanted to vote for (my) measure,” he said Wednesday. “They would have said it is already being addressed on a local level and there is no need to cast a statewide net.”