Judge Picks Westinghouse to Monitor Mobil Refinery

A retired Superior Court judge, siding with the Mobil Oil Corp., on Thursday selected Westinghouse Electric Corp. to oversee safety operations at Mobil’s Torrance refinery.

The appointment of Westinghouse as safety adviser by Judge Harry V. Peetris upset officials in the city of Torrance, which had favored a Northern California consulting firm for the crucial post.

The safety adviser is considered the key element in last fall’s consent decree between the city and Mobil, which was the result of a public nuisance lawsuit filed in 1989 by Torrance against the company. Mobil had nominated Westinghouse, while the city championed SRI International of Menlo Park.

The adviser is to analyze safety procedures at the refinery, make recommendations on how to improve those measures and oversee the modification or seven-year phase-out of highly toxic hydrofluoric acid at the plant.