At the center of that debate is the modified part of MHF. The agency's board members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. PBF Energy, which now owns the Torrance Refining Co. refinery, denied that an explosion occurred. TORRANCE TODAY is a 15-minute live news broadcast airing Monday. The LA County Department of Public Health and former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra followed suit. All the while, officials at those facilities have defended the chemicals use as safe. There, too, the Torrance refinery has disagreed. torrance News Caught on video: Car-to-car shooting on 91 Freeway Video shows a shooting between people in two cars traveling on the freeway in the Long Beach area. But at least for now, environmentalists and the refineries remain entrenched in their positions. Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers is a Houston Personal Injury Law Firm that represents accident victims across Texas, Louisiana and the United States. In the late 1980s, ExxonMobil and Phillips 66 jointly created modified hydrofluoric acid, which boasts a chemical additive that, when used in high enough concentrations, can prevent the poisonous chemical from dispersing. A reaction between hydrocarbons and catalyst takes place in what is known as the hydrocarbon side of the FCC unit. Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. CSB investigations look into all aspects of chemical accidents, including physical causes such as equipment failure as well as inadequacies in regulations, industry standards, and safety management systems. A group of activists on Saturday marked the fifth anniversary of an explosion at the Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance that injured four workers and prompted continuing concerns about the. This explosion and near miss should not have happened, and likely would not have happened, had a more robust process safety management system been in place, then-CSB Chairwoman Vanessa Allen Sutherland said in a statement at the time. Torrance fire Capt. The latest salvo in the battle over MHF came last month, when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors called for a ban on the highly toxic chemical. TORRANCE (CBSLA.com) A New Jersey-based oil refining company announced Wednesday it is purchasing the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance that was badly damaged in a February explosion, with. TORRANCE, Calif. (KABC) -- The Torrance Police Department issued an alert for the city, notifying them that the Torrance ExxonMobil Refinery had an explosion and fire early Saturday morning. May 3, 2017, Torrance, CA, -- Today, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released its final report into the February 18, 2015, explosion at the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance, California. The refinery has been under constant scrutiny since the explosion as small fires and flare ups have been reported since and raised concern among residents living nearby. The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a smoke advisory for any areas where residents can see or smell smoke. April 8, 2018 / 2:50 PM / KCAL News. They heard a loud explosion, kind of like a sonic boom, said Jason Davis, who lives near the complex. Los Angeles, This fabled orchid breeder loves to chat just not about Trader Joes orchids, Calmes: Heres what we should do about Marjorie Taylor Greene, ICE detainees allege retaliation for speaking about medical conditions at Otay Mesa center, Downtown L.A stabbing sends six to hospital; suspect arrested, San Diego Roman Catholic diocese facing yet another lawsuit from its insurance company, K-Pop isnt the only hot ticket in Koreatown how trot is captivating immigrants, Los Angeles is suddenly awash in waterfalls. A smoke advisory was issued for areas near the ExxonMobil refinery due to Wednesday morning's explosion and fire. Those calls for a ban remain. The issues to be discussed include A decision not to use the ExxonMobil emergency siren to alert the community to the explosion and subsequent ash and dust fallout.. A Philadelphia native, she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in medical anthropology and global health. On a day when activists marked the two-year anniversary of an explosion that rocked the then-ExxonMobil refinery and showered neighborhoods with industrial debris, another fire erupted at the troubled Torrance plant early Saturday. "I kind of figured we had an earthquake, then I realized, living by the factory for all those years, they had a problem with the factory.". The CSB also found that in multiple instances leading up to the incident, the refinery directly violated ExxonMobils corporate safety standards. Liz Odendahl, Hahns spokeswoman, said in an interview that the supervisor was furious at the AQMDs decision to accept the refineries proffers. The proposal had plenty of support: Reps. Nanette Barragan, Ted Lieu and Maxine Waters wrote letters urging the AQMD to pass the rule and phase MHF out of Southern California. The Board does not issue citations or fines but does make safety recommendations to plants, industry organizations, labor groups, and regulatory agencies such as OSHA and EPA. The explosion was mostly contained to two of the buildings units, with each sustaining significant damage. TORRANCE An explosion and fire in a gasoline processing unit rocked the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance today, injuring three workers and sending flames and ash into the sky. California Occupational Safety and Health officials were at the site investigating. The battle over a highly toxic chemical used in oil refining recently received a fresh jolt, seven years after the substance became a regional cause celebre in the wake of an explosion that rocked the Torrance Refinery. Thousands of people could have been harmed if the MHF had dispersed beyond the Torrance refinery in 2015, the CSB report said. The motion also instructs county departments to review existing health and safety measures related to MHF including emergency precautions in case of an accidental leak. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The fire was reported to the South Coast Air Quality Management District and California Office of Emergency Services, police said. Residents touted the move, introduced by Supervisor Janice Hahn and timed to the anniversary, while PBF, in a statement, criticized the county boards vote. Fill out the form below for a free case review with one of our experienced personal injury lawyers. A group of activists on Saturday marked the fifth anniversary of an explosion at the Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance that injured four workers and prompted continuing concerns about the potential for an even more catastrophic incident and the release of toxic chemicals and fumes into local communities. Explosion Rocks ExxonMobil Refinery in Torrance, California. Other groups including the refinerys unions and local businesses feared the potential economic fallout if the refineries were forced to transition to a safer alternative. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Times staff writer Tony Barboza contributed to this report. The incident caused the refinery to be run at limited capacity for over a year, raising gas prices in California and costing drivers in the state an estimated $2.4 billion. Many in the neighborhood reported being startled by a large blast. May 3, 2017, Torrance, CA, -- Today, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released its final report into the February 18, 2015, explosion at the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance, California. Ryan Zehl is the lawyer responsible for this website. Instead, if a leak occurred, a ground-hugging liquid cloud would form, according to a 2018 report from the Torrance refinery defending its use of the chemical. Three were treated and released. Chevron, for example, successfully converted its Salt Lake City refinery from HF to a new alkylation technology last year. The remainder of the FCC unit is comprised of a portion of the reaction process and a series of pollution control equipment that uses air and is known as the air side of the unit. Posted Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 5:20 pm PT. Hours after an explosion ripped through a Torrance refinery, residents for miles around continue to grapple with ash, a gas odor and concerns over poor air quality while inspectors confirmed that a filtration device was the source of the blast. Living in such close proximity to the refinery, Donna Heise said, makes it hard for the couple to ignore the chemicals potential dangers. A buildup of natural gas caused the explosion that leveled a Torrance home, damaged scores of others and rained glass, stucco and other debris over a two-block area, investigators said. He said the blast happened in a processing facility and the material involved was gasoline. Before joining the newsroom in 2016, she was a general assignment reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com. in communication and M.S. Investigators are still looking into the cause of the explosion, wh. Explosion at Torrance refinery - Los Angeles Times SUBSCRIBE Copyright 2022, Los Angeles Times | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | CA Notice of Collection | Do Not Sell My Personal. Its unacceptable we were put in harms way, said Daphne Wong, who added that she does not believe the official line that Torrance is a safe community. mostrar anuncios y contenido personalizados basados en perfiles de inters; medir la efectividad de los anuncios y el contenido personalizados, y. desarrollar y mejorar nuestros productos y servicios. Since then, at least one leak of hydrofluoric acid and several fires have prompted the South Coast Air Quality Management District to propose a ban on hydrofluoric acid. The cause of the accident was not immediately known, but it was believed to be caused by over pressurization in the plants electrostatic precipitators. The explosion occurred in the refinerys fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit, where a variety of products, mainly gasoline, are produced. After protests and intensified public pressure from such activists as the Heises mounted in 2017, the AQMDs Proposed Rule 1410 became a key focus of the agencys Governing Board. First published on April 8, 2018 / 2:50 PM. TORRANCE, Calif. -- An explosion rocked an Exxon Mobil refinery on Wednesday morning, triggering a huge smokestack flare, raining down ash and leaving four with minor injuries, company and. No further details were immediately available. And the incident was avoidable, CSB said: Mismanagement and improper safety protocols put in place by then-owner ExxonMobil who sold the refinery to PBF Energy shortly after the incident made the explosion likely. Every one of our lawyers is a Houston personal injury attorney whos undefeated in the courtroom and has recovered some of the largest verdicts and settlements in history. Some said they heard one of the workers may have turned on the gas inside one of the apartments before it was completely ready. Its unclear what effect these new calls to action will have on the refineries MHF usage. Four people were injured in an explosion at an apartment building in Torrance Sunday afternoon, officials said. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. The CSBs report concludes that the unit was operating without proper procedures., MHF was the subject of a thorough technology review by a court-appointed Safety Advisor with input from the City of Torrance, Gesuina Lafayette, PBFs community relations advisor said in a recent email. An ExxonMobil refinery explosion in Torrance injured two, caused a 1.7 magnitude shake and portends pain at the pumps. Valero, owner of the Wilmington refinery, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Authorities said the incident happened around 6 a.m. and 36 firefighters responded to the refinery. Paige Austin, Patch Staff. "Our main concern is for the safety of our employees and our neighbors.". All safety systems at the refinery operated correctly and personnel were safe, police said. Officials were investigating the cause of the over-pressurization. Passing motorists supplied supportive honks. The AQMD scrapped the potential ban in 2019 instead accepting proffers from both refineries that promised to make safety enhancements to their existing MHF units. More than a day after the accident, no representative from ExxonMobil had directly contacted the Torrance fire chief and city officials still did not know what was in the substances that were released into the surrounding areas. The machines are responsible for reducing ammonia and particulate emissions in a plant to comply with environmental regulations. Hutchings holds a B.A. The explosion sent ash raining down on vehicles parked near the sprawling 750-acre site and caused what one worker described as intense shaking. The CSBs report concludes that the unit was operating without proper procedures.. Numerous nearby residents complained about the air quality following the blast. Cliff and Donna Heise, for example, serve as secretary and treasurer of the TRAA, respectively. Activists held an event Saturday to mark the fifth anniversary of the explosion at the Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance that injured four workers. PBF, for its part, has repeatedly said concerns from local groups against MHF were unwarranted. Refinery officials, though, say MHF was specifically designed to be safer than its non-modified original hydrofluoric acid and has been reviewed by experts and deemed the best catalyst for the refining process. U.S. Chemical Safety Board. All Rights Reserved. Were also the only law firm in the country thats currently representing over 65 of the workers who were injured in the Williams Geismar explosion, as well as 3 of the 4 workers who were tragically killed in the October 2015 Williams explosion in Gibson, Louisiana. Nosotros, Yahoo, somos parte de la familia de marcas de Yahoo. One person remained hospitalized with a knee injury. There were also questions asking why the emergency refinery sirens did not sound following the accident. Theyre going to pass it on to the consumer.. Another fire? Following the explosion, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health shut down the part of the refinery where the accident occurred. Hire a Houston personal injury lawyer with a proven track record. The refinery previously said that the citys Fire Department has the sole responsibility to decide what tools to use, when to use them, and what area within the community to notify. At the bottom of a public notice explaining the Torrance Community Warning System, however, ExxonMobil has the ability to initiate the use of the Community Alert Sirens and Crenshaw Street Barriers if an incident at the refinery warrants immediate community notification., The Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee and the Environmental Quality Committee has planned a joint hearing to address the emergency response in the Torrance refinery explosion. ET), but there was no . The information you review on this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice.The verdicts and settlements that we have listed are simply intended to be representative of the cases that Zehl & Associates has handled for past clients; they are not a guarantee or prediction of the outcome in your or any other lawsuit. 46,739 visits in the last 30 days. The Torrance refinery has completed all safety enhancements and Valero has begun installation of some elements of safety measures structures and additional implementation is ongoing, said SCAQMD spokesperson Nahal Mogharabi in an email. A powerful blast at an ExxonMobil oil refinery rocked Torrance, California, on Wednesday. Watch: Explosion reported at ExxonMobil refinery in California - CBS News State of the Union CBS News App Ukraine Crisis COVID Pandemic CBS News Live Managing Your Money Essentials Shopping. Meantime, the Torrance Refining Company hosted a safety rally for employees. The CSB determined that on the day of the incident a slide valve that acted as a barrier failed. Of the injured, two were said to have sustained significant injuries. Homes shook in . The governors office confirmed they received the request, but declined further comment. We cant assume we will be so lucky next time, whether that is another refinery accident, an earthquake, or God-forbid, an attack., The passage of the Supervisors motion is disappointing, she said in an email, because many of the points they make are both misleading and the projects are already in place, following agreements with several government agencies to install additional safety measures.. We voluntarily enhanced the Alkylation Units robust, layered safety systems already considered by experts to be amongst the most advanced in the world, Lafayette wrote, by installing additional safety enhancements.. But we had no idea about the danger.. This is a breaking news story. Economic factors, such as job creation and the regional and global importance of oil, further complicate the issue, at least for elected officials. The refineries are required to provide quarterly updates to the agency.. "I was having my cup of coffee and all of the sudden the whole house shook, the windows vibrated," said Torrance resident John White. / KCAL News. The new campaign comes several months after air quality regulators killed a years-long push for stronger regulation of hydrofluoric acid at the two refineries. Three dozen firefighters knocked down the blaze within a half-hour. The building has been undergoing renovations for some time, and the victims are believed to be remodelers working in one of the involved units, neighbors said. All rights reserved. The CSB is an independent, non-regulatory federal agency charged with investigating serious chemical incidents. And it directs L.A. County to support any new legislation that would help phase out MHF. The shaking was felt primarily in the immediate vicinity of the refinery, according to Caltech. Investigators were trying to determine the cause of the blast, which occurred shortly before 9 a.m. PST . TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA Just before 9 a.m. on February 18, the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance, California exploded, shaking the surrounding community with the force of a 1.7 magnitude earthquake, and sending a quarter ton of sulfur oxide gas into the atmosphere. The 2015 explosion, according to the CSB, caused the refinery to run at limited capacity for more than a year and raised gas prices in California costing drivers in the state an estimated $2.4. If that was the case, we wouldnt have seen another explosion today, she added. In February, a large explosion occurred at ExxonMobils refinery in Torrance, California. I cant believe they dont have the guts to stand up and say, This is wrong and MHF needs to be out of our community, she said. Torrance firefighters responded to the 23500 block of Anza Avenue just before 1:20 p.m. Sunday. Some community members do not believe that the company did not enough to respond to the emergency. In July 2016, the Torrance refinery was sold by ExxonMobil to PBF Holdings Company, LLC, which now operates as the Torrance Refining Company. "You could feel it," said refinery worker Jason Hernandez. It was unclear what caused the fire. Both the PBF and Valero refineries are situated in densely populated areas of the South Bay: About 245,000 people live within three miles of the Torrance refinery and another 153,000 live within that same distance of Valeros refinery, AQMD said. And so, the battle over MHFs future appears set to linger on with the Board of Supervisors call for a ban the latest volley. "Emergency procedures have been activated to address the incident, and employees are working with the appropriate agencies," a statement by the ExxonMobil Torrance Refinery said. TORRANCE, Calif. (Reuters) - An explosion and fire ripped through a gasoline processing unit at an Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance, California, near Los Angeles on Wednesday, slightly . Puedes cambiar tus opciones en cualquier momento haciendo clic en el enlace Panel de control de privacidad de nuestros sitios y aplicaciones. On Saturday, the Torrance Refinery Action Alliance announced a campaign urging Gov. PUBLISHED: February 18, 2023 at 8:00 a.m. | UPDATED: February 18, 2023 at 8:01 a.m. It's been eight years since a massive explosion at the Torrance Refinery shook the South Bay with the blast. 6 Min Read. 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The fiercest local opponent of MHF is the Torrance Refinery Action Alliance. Tests have shown that MHF, which Torrance has used since 1997, rapidly expands upon release and can travel at lethal concentrations up to two miles, according to a presentation from AQMD staff. The large turnout surprised even the diverse group of participants unaccustomed to seeing such political activism in a conservative community. The work of the Safety Auditor was overseen by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge and approved prior to use of MHF at the refinery.. And then the people who were right by just felt a shake, like an earthquake.. In September, the South Coast Air Quality Management District governing board voted instead to accept a voluntary oil industry pledge to enhance safety measures. The Supervisor knew the proffers were toothless, Odendahl said. Fortunately, the explosion did not release asbestos, but the material released contained fiberglass and glass wool which can cause respiratory issues. "I just appreciate that I'm here. TORRANCE (CBSLA) Firefighters say four people have been injured in a reported explosion at an apartment complex in Torrance. It appeared it was a gas explosion, but a hazardous materials team was on scene Sunday afternoon working to determine exactly what occurred. Unfortunately, ExxonMobil, the owner-operator of the refinery at the time of the accident, did not respond to the CSBs requests for information detailing safeguards to prevent or mitigate a release of MHF, and therefore the agency was unable to fully explore this topic in its final report. Refineries are not supposed to have explosions. The crowd gathered at 10 a.m. at Columbia Park on 190th Street, cheering the remarks of Lieu, Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi and other speakers, before marching the short distance to the refinery. And Torrance receives about $7.5 million annually in utility user taxes from the refinerys operation. The modified HF catalyst reduces acid vapor pressure sufficiently to suppress the usual flash atomization process of hydrofluoric acid, that environmental impact report said, causing most of the acid to fall to the ground as an easily controlled liquid and reduces the potential for off-site consequences of an accidental HF release..
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explosion in torrance today