Mobil Adviser Has Spent $245,000

The adviser appointed to oversee safety at Mobil Oil’s Torrance refinery has submitted an invoice claiming that in eight months it has used nearly one-fourth of the money budgeted for its entire six-year project.

Torrance city officials have refused to pay the $245,000 bill until Westinghouse Electric Corp. clarifies how it managed to make such a large dent in its $1-million budget, City Atty. Kenneth Nelson said. Under a legal agreement between Mobil and Torrance, the city pays invoices from Westinghouse but is reimbursed by the oil company.

Torrance sued Mobil in 1989 after a series of explosions and fires raised concerns about the refinery. Three weeks before the lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial in 1990, Mobil and the city announced that they were entering into a consent decree requiring Mobil to submit to ongoing inspections by an outside adviser until 1997.

After months of debate between Mobil and Torrance, retired Superior Court Judge Harry V. Peetris last May appointed Westinghouse, Mobil’s choice, as adviser.

Peetris set a $1-million limit on Westinghouse, but he can increase that spending cap if he finds it necessary.

“We’re upset” by the level of expenditures so far, Nelson said. “I won’t take it to the extent that we’re outraged, but we’re certainly upset. There are a number of things in (the invoice) that shouldn’t be in there, things not directly related to the task site.”