Torrance Vows to Fight On as Mobil Celebrates

The initial battle over use of hydrofluoric acid may be finished, but Torrance officials said Wednesday that the war is far from over.

City Council members declared themselves the victors in Tuesday’s election, in which voters rejected a measure that would have effectively banned Mobil Oil Corp. from using the highly toxic chemical at its Torrance refinery.

The results, they say, give them a mandate to pursue other ways to get the acid out of Torrance.

Mobil and its industry colleagues, however, claim they were handed a clear victory at the polls, one they believe will hamper further attempts to ban use of hydrofluoric acid in Torrance and elsewhere.

Although the ballot measure defeated Tuesday was sponsored by Councilman Dan Walker, his six council colleagues opposed the initiative, fearing that legal action by Mobil would interfere with the council’s efforts to control a number of hazardous chemicals at the refinery.

“This is not a mandate of the people for Mobil doing business as usual,” Mayor Katy Geissert said. “I feel particular responsibility because people who talked to me, many people, said they were thinking of voting for the measure because (they said), ‘We are scared.’ . . . They trusted me and voted no.”

Mobil officials said the vote reflects a confidence in the company’s policies.

“I think it is quite clear that the people of Torrance don’t perceive (the refinery’s use of hydrofluoric acid) as the big problem people like Dan Walker want to make it,” refinery manager Wyman Robb said.

“I think I can point to a lot of evidence that we do know how to handle this chemical safely.”

Del Persinger, a senior refining associate with the American Petroleum Institute, said the Torrance vote “sends the right signal to the country.”

“It indicates, I would hope, that we can pursue a sensible course to improve safety and provide the products that people need,” he said. “Whether by lawsuit or referendum, we don’t think there is any need to limit hydrofluoric acid.”

But Councilman George Nakano said Mobil’s perception that efforts to control hydrofluoric acid should ease in the wake of the Torrance vote is “dead wrong.”

“Mobil is going to try to send a message out there that everything is fine and dandy, and it is not,” he said. “I’m going to do my part and we are all going to do our part to get our message across to the state and federal level.”

In the largest municipal election turnout since 1972, nearly 28% of Torrance’s 72,000 registered voters rejected Measure A by a 3-1 margin. The initiative would have prohibited the storage of more than 250 gallons of hydrofluoric acid in the city.

Mobil spent nearly $650,000 fighting the measure--roughly $30 per ballot cast--to avoid having to spend as much as $100 million to convert its refinery to using less-volatile sulfuric acid.

Councilman Tim Mock said Mobil officials told him Tuesday night that they “could not have done it” without the City Council’s opposition to the measure.

Mock said the council should continue to push for greater control of the refinery, but that there should be a limit to what the city is willing to do.

State and federal legislators “have the resources to take on Mobil. Torrance doesn’t,” he said.

“At what level (of spending) will the city cry uncle? That is yet to be determined. If you are talking $8 million, I think the City Council said, yes, we should cry uncle.”

Times staff writers George Stein and George Hatch contributed to this story.