By Delaying Chemical Safety Rule, Pruitt Endangers First Responders and Refinery Towns

The ExxonMobil Torrance refinery in Southern California, after an explosion on February 18, 2015, had ripped through the facility, dislodging a hulking 40-ton chunk of debris that narrowly avoided a tank containing tens of thousands of pounds of highly toxic modified hydrofluoric acid. (Photo: Courtesy of the Chemical Safety Board)The ExxonMobil Torrance refinery in Southern California, after an explosion on February 18, 2015 had ripped through the facility, dislodging a hulking 40-ton chunk of debris that narrowly avoided a tank containing tens of thousands of pounds of highly toxic modified hydrofluoric acid. (Photo: Courtesy of the Chemical Safety Board)

Want to see more coverage of the issues that matter? Make a donation to Truthout to ensure that we can publish more original stories like this one.

At 8:48 a.m. on the morning of February 18, 2015, an explosion at the ExxonMobil Torrance refinery in Southern California ripped through the facility with such ferocity, the resulting shockwaves registered on the Richter scale. Dust was scattered over the densely populated neighborhood up to a mile away from the blast. Four workers suffered minor injuries. A hulking 40-ton chunk of debris from the refinery’s Electrostatic Precipitator narrowly avoided hitting a tank containing tens of thousands of pounds of highly toxic modified hydrofluoric acid.

The damning findings of a Chemical Safety Board (CSB) review of the accident were made public earlier this month. Among some of the problems identified in the report: the refinery repeatedly violated ExxonMobil’s corporate safety standards leading up to the incident, while multiple gaps existed in the refinery’s safety systems.

“It was only sheer luck that the hydrofluoric acid tank wasn’t hit,” said Dr. Sally Hayati, president of the Torrance Refinery Action Alliance. If it had been hit, the collision could have released a toxic ground-hugging cloud with the potential to kill for nine miles and cause serious and irreversible injuries for up to 16 miles under worst-case scenario projections, she added.

“This is yet another symptom of how in our country we always put profit ahead of safety,” Hayati said.

Just before Obama exited office, his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put in place a new federal rule setting tougher safety procedures at…

Read more