Torrance Refinery Suit Was ‘Strategic Error’

The ink is barely dry on the October, 1990, consent decree, which settled Torrance’s public nuisance lawsuit against Mobil, and members of the Torrance City Council are already publicly voicing doubts about whether the centerpiece of that consent decree, the phase-out of hydrofluoric acid, will be accomplished.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Councilmen Tim Mock and George Nakano are trumpeting a proposed Chemical Review Board ordinance as a backup measure in light of a recent court order naming Westinghouse Electric Corp. Mobil’s choice as refinery safety adviser.

Perhaps members of the Torrance City Council are beginning to comprehend that they made a serious strategic error in relying exclusively upon that great vestige of the 19th-Century industrial revolution, the public-nuisance lawsuit, to the exclusion of the political process. Remember that Torrance Mayor Katy Geissert led the fight to defeat the March, 1990, Walker Initiative, which would have banned the use of hydrofluoric acid at the Mobil refinery through the adoption of an ordinance by vote of the people.

Of course, a victorious Walker Initiative might not have survived the scrutiny of the courts on state/federal preemption or constitutional grounds. However, a vote of the people always has salutary effects. Even in ultimate court rejection, the Walker Initiative would have stood as a powerful statement from the Torrance electorate that some lawfully permissible remedy must be found to eliminate the use of hydrofluoric acid in densely populated areas.

This might have led state legislators to conclude that proposing such a remedy would be politically popular. This might have led other municipalities to experiment with variants of the Walker Initiative that could have survived judicial scrutiny. Because of the Walker Initiative’s 3-1 drubbing at the polls, a drubbing for which the Torrance City Council takes credit, none of these possibilities have been feasible.

Politics works that way. Propositions that garner 25% of the vote are orphans.

There is great irony in the fact that the Torrance City Council, a group of individuals who frequently complain about our overly litigious society, chose to eschew the political process and to file a lawsuit in order to pursue a regulatory function. The Torrance City Council chose to tackle Mobil in the corridors of courtrooms instead of the open arena of public debate.

It is ironic that a group of elected politicians did not seem to grasp that it desperately needed broad demonstrations of public support and consensus in order to prevail over a multinational giant such as Mobil. As a result, hydrofluoric acid may be a fixture of the South Bay landscape for many years to come.

CRAIG KESSLER

Torrance