Bill to Restrict Refinery Chemical Shelved

SACRAMENTO —  Faced with overwhelming industry opposition, an Assembly committee on Tuesday shelved a sweeping proposal to phase out large-scale use of hydrogen fluoride, an industrial chemical that can be hazardous to health when accidentally released.

The legislation, by Assemblyman Curtis Tucker Jr. (D-Inglewood), would have forced oil refiners--which use the acid to manufacture unleaded gasoline--and other businesses to switch to safer substitutes, relocate to rural areas or shut down operations.

Tucker said the bill sought the ban at facilities that store more than 250 gallons of pure hydrogen fluoride. He said that four refineries in Los Angeles County would have been affected, including the large Mobil refinery in Torrance, as well as Allied-Signal Inc.’s refrigeration plant in El Segundo.

The bill’s supporters, including the cities of Torrance and El Segundo, argued that the hydrogen fluoride phase-out was necessary to prevent a potentially catastrophic release of the chemical into the air in an urban area. Concern about the chemical has grown since an undetected buildup of hydrofluoric acid, the liquid form of the chemical, caused a 1987 explosion and fire at the Torrance Mobil refinery.

Tests sponsored by the oil industry have shown that an uncontrolled, two-minute release of 500 gallons of hydrogen fluoride per minute could prove deadly up to five miles downwind.

But industry spokesmen told the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxics Committee that risks of an accidental release of the acid are minimal. Business groups said passage of the bill would also hamper operations in the aerospace and computer chip industries.

Oil industry officials said the bill would have forced refiners to spend $30 million to $100 million to convert their plants to use sulfuric acid as a substitute in manufacturing unleaded gasoline. Sulfuric acid is employed by many of the state’s refineries.

Committee members urged Tucker to send the bill to “interim study.” Tucker reluctantly agreed, acknowledging that the move could be “the kiss of death.”

The South Coast Air Quality Management District could act on its own to ban the chemical. On Friday, the district board is scheduled to consider a staff recommendation that the heavy use of hydrogen fluoride be phased out throughout its four-county area.

In Washington, a proposal by U.S. Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) unanimously passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee as an amendment to the Clean Air Act on Tuesday. As amended, the bill calls for a 10-year phase-out of the chemical, if the EPA decides there is a safer alternative.