D.A. Won’t File Criminal Charges Over Mobil Blast : Safety: Official says there are no grounds for felony prosecution of firm in 1994 explosion at Torrance refinery.

The Los Angeles district attorney’s office announced Tuesday that it has no grounds to file criminal charges against Mobil Oil Corp. for the October, 1994, explosion and fire at the giant Mobil refinery in Torrance.

After months of review, the office could find “no basis on which to bring a felony prosecution,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Fred Macksoud, who looked into the explosion for the district attorney’s environmental crimes/OSHA unit. Twenty-eight workers were injured and flames shot 40 feet into the air after volatile gases leaked from a disconnected pipe and ignited in the facility’s largest explosion in seven years.

“We reviewed the files submitted to us from [state investigators] and our own information, and there was no applicable felony,” Macksoud said.

Environmental watchdogs decried the decision as cowardice, asserting that prosecutors would have jumped on a similar case against a small business.

“I think the D.A. and other people in public offices are afraid to go up against major corporations because they are big [campaign] contributors and carry a lot of political clout,” said Denny Larson of the statewide Citizens for a Better Environment, himself a former resident of the refinery area.

Macksoud said Mobil can be prosecuted on misdemeanor charges of “willfully violating” state safety regulations, but he turned the matter over to the Torrance city attorney’s office because the district attorney has no jurisdiction to prosecute misdemeanors.

Torrance Assistant City Atty. Ron Pohl said local prosecutors will review Macksoud’s files and state labor law before deciding whether to pursue the misdemeanor charge, which carries a maximum $7,000 fine and six months in jail.

Meanwhile, residents near the 190th Street facility expressed disappointment at the decision.

“To me it sends a strange message that you’re able to violate sensible safety regulations and hurt people with impunity,” said Clifford Heise, who lives on Patronella Avenue just north of the refinery.

Mobil officials praised the D.A.’s office.

“We were confident that no individual committed any actions warranting a criminal filing,” company spokesman Jim Carbonetti said.

He said Mobil is appealing a citation issued in March from Cal/OSHA, which fined the oil company $42,500 for failing to inspect equipment at the refinery before the Oct. 19 explosion.

Mobil investigators reported that the explosion occurred after refinery and contract workers failed to follow safety procedures, allowing flammable gases to flow into a pipeline left disconnected after construction work. The mixture of propane and butane escaped through the disconnected pipe and ignited.

The refinery will not contest eight minor Cal/OSHA citations and will pay the $24,500 in related fines. The refinery still faces a civil suit stemming from the blast.

Nine people--including eight who were working at the refinery when the explosion occurred--filed a $270-million lawsuit for injuries they say they suffered in the accident. The ninth person is the wife of one of the workers who joined the suit because the explosion allegedly deprived her of the companionship of her injured husband.

* Times staff writer Deborah Schoch contributed to this story.