Torrance Backs Proposals to Ban Refinery Acid : Safety: Proponents include council members who successfully opposed an initiative against use of hydrofluoric acid in the city.

The Torrance City Council, which campaigned vigorously against a March 6 ballot measure to ban hydrofluoric acid at the Torrance Mobil refinery, voted unanimously Tuesday to support similar bans proposed by air quality officials and a state legislator.

A comparable resolution was approved in El Segundo, where Allied Signal Inc. uses hydrofluoric acid in bulk. The City Council there supports the legislative ban proposed by Assemblyman Curtis Tucker Jr. (D-Inglewood). It would phase out the bulk use of the acutely hazardous substance in populated areas.

The Torrance council action reflects the continued effort by six council members to distance themselves from the successful Mobil campaign that defeated the ban. Torrance Mayor Katy Geissert and five of the six other council members opposed the ballot measure, which was sponsored by Councilman Dan Walker.

Walker’s measure would have limited to 250 gallons the amount of hydrofluoric acid that could have been stored anywhere in Torrance. If approved, it would have had the effect of banning the chemical at the Mobil Refinery.

Unlike the Torrance measure, the ban being discussed by South Coast Air Quality Management District officials would apply to the four-county area in the Los Angeles basin, and Tucker’s proposal would apply statewide.

A ban on hydrofluoric acid would require refineries to spend millions of dollars to convert to less volatile sulfuric acid. It would force the shutdown of the Allied facility, which uses the chemical to manufacture refrigerants. The bans would cover hydrogen fluoride, as well as its liquid form, hydrofluoric acid.

In Torrance, the ballot measure lost by a 3-to-1 margin in a hard-fought campaign that set records for campaign spending in Torrance. Mobil spent almost $700,000.

After the election, Mobil Refinery Manager Wyman Robb claimed the vote signaled that Torrance residents did not fear hydrofluoric acid accidents as much as Walker said they did. Robb said other governmental agencies considering hydrofluoric acid bans should “take (the vote) into account.”

But the six council members who joined with Mobil in opposing the ballot measure said the vote was a statement of confidence in the council’s approach to dealing with hazards at Mobil. Instead of a ballot measure, the six council members said they prefer to pursue the lawsuit filed last April that seeks more power over Mobil, including the possible authority to impose a hydrofluoric acid ban.

Walker was asked how he felt about the council supporting other ban proposals after campaigning against the ballot measure.

“I throw up my hands,” he said.

But Geissert said there is no contradiction.

“We did not disagree with the intent,” Geissert said, referring to the ballot measure. “We disagreed with the means.”

Mobil officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday on the vote.

Geissert told the council Tuesday that she would testify in Sacramento for a statewide ban at an April 3 hearing on Tucker’s legislation. The mayor said she would also appear before the board of the AQMD on April 6 to support a staff recommendation to phase out the bulk use of hydrofluoric acid.

In urging passage of the council resolutions, Geissert said that they would lend greater authority to her position supporting a ban at the two hearings. Later she said: “Actions of other agencies--agencies that have regional and statewide authority--certainly would strengthen the city’s position on this issue” in court.

In El Segundo, the vote Tuesday was divided.

On a motion by Councilman Scot D. Dannen, the El Segundo council voted 3-1 to back the Tucker legislation.

Dannen, Mayor Carl Jacobsen and Jim Clutter favored a ban, while Councilman Alan West opposed it. H. R. (Bob) Anderson abstained.

Jacobsen will present the city’s position at the April 3 legislative hearing.

The council vote followed a presentation by two AQMD staff members, who said the staff supports the Tucker bill.

Jacobsen said that, no matter what steps are taken to safely handle deadly chemicals, there are risks because of human error. He called the Tucker bill “a start” toward eliminating these risks. Clutter said use of hydrofluoric acid “in a populated area is not smart.”

Although the chemical “may be hazardous . . . and not appropriate,” West said, he voted “no” because the AQMD board had not yet acted on the staff recommendation to phase out hydrofluoric acid.

Allied Signal objected, saying its safety procedures protect the public, and there is no justification for closing down the plant, which has operated since 1920. Plant Manager Louis Ervin said the company has put much time into developing procedures to prevent hazards.

He said the Tucker bill could shut down 50 other hydrogen fluoride users in the state, eliminating jobs and revenue to cities.

The city councils in Los Angeles and Santa Fe Springs, where three other oil refineries use hydrofluoric acid, have not taken any position on its use. The refineries use it to boost the octane in unleaded gasoline.