Link to the Daily Breeze: https://www.dailybreeze.com/2019/06/24/heres-why-aqmd-committee-chose-enhanced-safety-measures-over-a-ban-on-mhf-at-refineries-in-wilmington-and-torrance/
John Bailey, President
Southeast Torrance Homeowners’ Association, Inc.
(SETHA)
Improved safety systems at two
South Bay refineries are preferable to a phase-out and eventual ban of modified
hydrofluoric acid, a subcommittee of the region’s air pollution watchdog has
recommended.
The South Coast Air Quality
Management District voted 3-2 over the weekend to recommend to the agency’s
governing board they should support the option of signing a memorandum of
understanding with each refinery in Torrance and Wilmington that will pave the
way for more mitigation systems to reduce the risk of an accidental release of
the toxic chemical.
A vote on the issue by the full
AQMD governing board could come later this year.
That mirrors what the committee said in April 2018 when
it rejected a ban of the
chemical because of a lack of current alternatives to MHF.
“Everything we do in life has
risks and what we try to do is manage that risk the best we can through
training, through technology improvements,” committee chairman Larry McCallon,
who is also mayor of the San Bernardino County community of Highland, said
before the vote at the end of the all-day meeting.
South Bay Supervisor Janice Hahn
and Rolling Hills Estates City Councilwoman Judy Mitchell, who both favor a ban,
cast the dissenting votes.
Hahn said Monday she was
disappointed in her fellow panelists, observing that the action was less
stringent than the measures recommended by the agency’s staff, noting that a
fallback option of a ban on MHF if the performance standards were not met was
removed from the motion.
“An MOU is just an attempt to put
systems in place to reduce risk, but my real worry is a catastrophic event that
causes a major release of modified hydrofluoric acid when the systems we put in
place fail,” she said. “The only way to eliminate the risk completely is to ban
this dangerous chemical.
Representatives with PBF Energy,
which owns the Torrance refinery, applauded the committee’s
decision.
“We are confident in our existing
robust, redundant and layered safety systems,” said a statement via email from
company spokeswoman Betsy Brien. “Our proposed enhanced safety systems would
augment multiple aspects of our existing systems, adding new barriers, water
mitigation technologies and detection equipment.”
The current debate over MHF
endures in wake of a February 2015 explosion at the Torrance Refinery. Fueling
the debate was the conclusion reached by the U.S. Chemical Safety board that the
blast almost ruptured a massive tank containing thousands of pounds of the
chemical, which could have caused widespread injuries and deaths, the agency
said.
McCallon said Saturday the
performance standard surrounding an MHF release would be based on the scenario
of a one-inch tank rupture saying that he had seen “nothing that would justify
using a two-inch hole size” let alone anything larger.
Local activists, including about
70 residents who traveled to the meeting on two buses provided by Hahn’s office,
vowed to fight on.
“We’re not giving up, it’s too
dangerous, our families are at risk,” said Torrance resident Sally Hayati, who
heads a group called Ban Toxic MHF and was formerly president of the Torrance
Refinery Action Alliance, which spear-headed the drive for an MHF
ban.
“They’re trying to convince us the
safety systems are infallible,” she added. “Saturday’s meeting was a shameful
act of willful ignorance.”
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