TORRANCE : Officials to Give Public Report on Pact With Mobil

Torrance officials, stung by criticism that they have weakened a safety pact overseeing the Mobil Oil refinery, will report publicly tonight at a City Council meeting on recent changes in that agreement. Some opponents have contended that the changes make it easier for the refinery to continue using toxic hydrofluoric acid instead of switching to a substitute.

The refinery was rocked by a Oct. 19 explosion that injured 28 workers. The cause of the accident, which occurred near the unit that uses hydrofluoric acid, remains under investigation.

The acid ranks as one of the most toxic chemicals being used in the Los Angeles Basin, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Concern about hydrofluoric acid helped fuel a 1989 city lawsuit against Mobil. Both sides signed a consent decree calling for the refinery to stop using the acid by the end of 1997 unless it could devise a safe form by the end of this month. But the city recently agreed to allow Mobil to continue using the acid as long as a study of a newly modified acid--due by Dec. 31--shows it is safer than the chief alternative, sulfuric acid.

“What amounts to a public safety question is being handled behind closed doors,” said environmentalist Fred Millar. But the city and Mobil say that a comparison of the two acids will yield valuable information about which is safer.