Torrance Won’t Let Mobil Hold Open House

Torrance city officials doused Mobil Oil’s party plans Thursday, issuing a terse letter denying all permits necessary for a festive open house at the refinery.

Mobil had hoped that its planned $200,000 gathering on Oct. 7 would attract thousands of residents--estimates ranged between 8,000 and 12,000--to the refinery grounds to see informational booths, take tours, eat hot dogs and hamburgers, and ride on a Ferris wheel and a carousel.

Furious Mobil officials accused the city of blocking the open house to bolster a city lawsuit that seeks to declare the refinery a nuisance subject to city regulation.

‘Not Surprised’

“We’re disappointed, but not surprised,” Mobil spokesman Jim Carbonetti said. “The denial was based on concerns submitted by the city attorney, not the fire or police department, but we still haven’t been told what the specifics are.”

City officials, concerned that the crowd wouldn’t be safe on the grounds of the problem-plagued refinery, balked at issuing permits, suggesting instead that Mobil set up its booths and carnivals at nearby Columbia Park and bus visitors to the refinery for tours.

When Mobil rejected that idea, the city decided to reject Mobil’s permit requests.

“Based on concerns submitted by the city attorney, the city manager finds that there are serious questions of safety with regard to any such public assembly within the area; therefore, the permits are denied,” said City Manager LeRoy Jackon’s two-paragraph letter.

City Atty. Kenneth Nelson said the city feared that gathering thousands of people on the refinery grounds would invite trouble.

‘Downright Dangerous’

“Common sense tells us all that probably one of the most dangerous places in our society happens to be an oil refinery,” Nelson said. “The idea of having a party at which thousands of people would be in attendance is at best imprudent and probably more properly downright dangerous.”

Torrance Mayor Katy Geissert, who characterized the rejection as a staff decision, said Columbia Park would have offered a more pleasant setting.

“It seems silly to make this the Mobil issue,” Geissert said. “It’s a lovely park and it’s the largest park in the city. . . . We did not want it to become a political decision.”

She noted that Mobil is welcome to conduct as many tours as it wants without seeking city permission to do so.

“When it comes to a large assembly and any permits that the city would have to issue, it becomes the city’s concern . . . for public safety,” she said.

Mobil began planning the party several months ago in response to criticism that it has not provided enough information to the general public about its operations.

The refinery has been under scrutiny since a powerful explosion and fire ripped through the facility in November, 1987. In addition to the city lawsuit, filed last April, Mobil faces a March, 1990, ballot measure that would force the refinery to stop using deadly hydrofluoric acid in the refining process, a change the company estimates could cost from $50 million to $100 million.

In response, Mobil began an extensive public relations campaign that has included publishing a citywide newsletter, running advertisements in local newspapers, staging tours of the refinery for local groups and providing speakers to community organizations.

Acknowledging that it is too late to plan any alternate event for Oct. 7, Carbonetti said Mobil still plans to stage some kind of public open house.

“We’re considering inviting smaller groups to visit us with bus tours and an education session, maybe on a series of Saturdays instead of just one Saturday,” he said. “It will take a little more time this way, but we’ll figure out some way to get to where we want to go.”