In December of 2022, Los Angeles County completed a report to the Board of Supervisors about the conversion from HF at our local refineries. We just received the report and want to share it.
It’s a great “report” that confirms much of what TRAA has been suggesting about the danger posed by an accidental release of a significant quantity of MHF, the fact that there have been a large number of releases in the very recent past (20 cited in the report), and the reality that any of these 20 could have resulted in a catastrophic release.
However, it repeats a completely discredited estimate of costs in the billions of dollars (they say that the cost would be greater than the net worth of the facilities themselves. See bottom of Attachment III). SCAQMD, US EPA and TRAA has assembled plenty of data showing that the cost of conversion is well within normal investment range for companies making between $3 and $11 billion annually. Valero themselves have built from the ground up an alkylation unit using an alternative for around $400 million. Conversion would likely be significantly lower according to the vendors of those technologies.
Here is the report:
Torrance Refinery Action Alliance 