While refinery officials have defended modified hydrofluoric acid — a key component of refining — advocates say it poses a major threat.
It’s been eight years since a massive explosion at the Torrance Refinery shook the South Bay — with the blast registering as a small earthquake, leaving four workers injured and coating the area in ash.
They did so again on Friday, Feb. 17, with the Torrance Refinery Action Alliance and a handful of elected officials renewing those calls for a ban during an event commemorating the eighth anniversary of the explosion. The effort to ban MHF became a local cause celebre after federal investigators reported that the 2015 explosion could have been much worse than originally thought.
Graham, in her Friday statement, detailed those safety measures, such as installing a new protective steel structure, a water mitigation dome and curtain, an enhanced HF/MHF detection system and additional water mitigation monitors. Prior to marching to protest at the PBF Energy refinery, people gather signs at Columbia Park in Torrance on Saturday, Feb 17, 2018. It has been three years since the refinery explosion rocked the neighborhood and now residents are calling for a ban on the use of hydrofluoric acid at the refinery.
“Although small-scale, alternative alkylation technology options are under development,” she said, “they have not yet been proven to be safe, reliable from a mechanical integrity perspective, and commercially viable at the scale of the Torrance Refinery Alkylation Unit.” Graham, however, touted those safety enhancements and noted other audits the Torrance refinery has faced, including a court-appointed technology review.
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