In her April 21, 2022 letter, cosigned by 17 prominent experts, former EPA Administrator and New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman writes to EPA Administrator Michael Regan:
“By enhancing the January 13, 2017, RMP rule, the EPA can simultaneously enhance national security and the protection of workers and communities now in harm’s way. An accident, natural disaster, or deliberate criminal attack could trigger a chemical release that could kill or injure thousands of people and cause billions of dollars of economic damage.”
Specifically, in regard to highly toxic hydrogen fluoride used in chemical refineries like the Torrance refinery and Valero Wilmington in Southern California’s South Bay region, she urges:
“Requiring facilities completing Safer Technology and Alternatives Analyses (STAAs) to implement safer alternatives wherever feasible, especially if they can eliminate catastrophic hazards, like refineries using hydrogen fluoride implementing the Honeywell process adopted by Chevron in its Salt Lake City refinery. This is the only foolproof way to prevent catastrophic releases by any cause.
Torrance Refinery Action Alliance 