Torrance to Get Advice on Curbing Mobil Plant

Torrance City Council members are seeking legal advice about what power they have to regulate and, if necessary, close the Mobil Oil Corp. refinery.

City Atty. Stanley E. Remelmeyer will focus on whether Torrance can prohibit Mobil from using an acutely toxic chemical, hydrofluoric acid, in the refining process.

While they were not enthusiastic about authorizing the request for legal advice, council members Tuesday night did not stand in the way of the inquiry sought by Councilman Dan Walker.

An excess of hydrofluoric acid in a refinery unit that produces unleaded gasoline caused a massive explosion last Nov. 24 and sparked a fire that burned for two days. If released into the air in sufficient quantities, the acid forms hydrogen fluoride gas, which can be lethal or crippling to those exposed.

Serious Accidents

The refinery has seen a string of serious accidents since the November fire, including three explosions, two fatalities and at least a dozen injuries.

Walker asked Remelmeyer to conduct the legal research in the wake of the latest explosion and flash fire at the refinery Friday, which injured two workers.

His council colleagues did not object to exploring the legal issues involving the 750-acre Mobil refinery. But they complained that Walker had gone public with a call for action Friday, had spoken independently about it with Remelmeyer, and then did not attend the council meeting. They were also upset that Walker’s comments had drawn widespread media attention.

“I find myself in the situation of seriously questioning the safe operation of the facility,” Walker said in an interview this week. “Everybody can point the finger at somebody else, but somebody has got to take the responsibility to say enough is enough.

‘You Start Wondering’

“We have had three incidents in a month’s time, including a loss of life,” Walker said. “You start wondering about the overall operation.”

An outside consulting firm working for the city had just begun an $88,000 industrial safety audit of the refinery last week when the latest accident occurred.

Councilman Bill Applegate said “it would be prudent for us” to wait for the safety study to be completed in mid-October and not “step off in a direction that would create additional problems for the city.”

After meeting Tuesday with representatives of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, which represents some Mobil employees, Councilman Mark Wirth issued a statement saying that closing the plant would cost 800 jobs and “leave us with a large problem piece of property in the middle of the city.”

Contract Workers

Wirth added: “If the plant is run safely, then it can be a benefit to our city and should remain open.” He said the city should examine whether the use of “unqualified contract workers” is responsible for the surge in accidents, as union members have charged. All of those killed, and most of those injured, this year have been contract workers--employees of outside firms who are hired by Mobil for specific jobs.

Wirth asked whether the city can suspend building permits for reconstruction of the refinery “until we are assured that the workers are qualified to do the job and the plant can be operated safely.”

After the council meeting, Mobil spokesman James A. Carbonetti defended the refinery’s safety record and its use of outside contractors. “We are sure that these people are qualified,” he said. “They are reputable firms.”

The recent spate of problems at the refinery has attracted the attention of local, regional, state and federal agencies as well as the media.

Apparent Stroke Victim

During a television interview with KABC reporter Mark Coogan in front of the refinery’s administration building Wednesday afternoon, Carbonetti was being questioned about the refinery’s safety record when he paused and slumped to a sitting position, the apparent victim of a stroke.

Carbonetti, 56, of La Canada Flintridge, was taken by ambulance to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance, where he was reported in stable condition. A hospital spokeswoman said he was being treated for a possible stroke.

After the council meeting Tuesday night, Carbonetti disclosed that Mobil has reassigned responsibility for safety at the refinery.

Tom Gregory, the refinery’s manager of safety and training, will retire next July after 33 years with Mobil. He will be on special assignment until then, working with Torrance’s safety consultant and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Gregory’s responsibility for safety matters has been shifted to Greg E. Munakata, 40, a chemical engineer who remains the refinery’s environmental manager.

Still Investigating

Leslie Michael, area director of the OSHA office in Long Beach, said the federal job safety agency is still investigating the two explosions and fires on July 15 as well as Friday’s accident.

In June, OSHA fined Mobil $5,000 for five serious safety violations stemming from the November explosion and fire. Mobil did not contest four of the citations and paid $4,000 in fines.

The company is contesting the fifth citation. OSHA alleges that safety relief valves on the tank that exploded in November were not properly sized to take into account the potential reaction between hydrofluoric acid and potassium hydroxide.

Councilman Walker said his objective in seeking legal advice is to force Mobil to prove that the use of hydrofluoric acid at the refinery is safe. The South Coast Air Quality Management District is also examining the question.

“As far as I’m concerned there is no acceptable risk,” Walker said. “It is not a danger that would be confined to the (refinery) property. It is a danger to the lives of people who live within miles of the refinery. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of people.”