As we come upon the 10th anniversary of the Torrance Refinery explosion, look at how they have changed. On January 6th, the AQMD reported an Unplanned Flare event at the Torrance Refinery, the first of the new year.
While planned events are used for scheduled maintenance, the Unplanned Event is “Used for emergencies caused by equipment failure, power outage, or other unanticipated event which requires the refinery to dispose of the gases in order to prevent harm to workers, the community, or to the environment.” per the AQMD.
Last year there were a total of 20 Unplanned Events, compared to 7 Planned events, even worse than 2023’s 13 Unplanned Events. This raises the question about the safety of the refinery. We wonder if Torrance Refinery’s maintenance and controls are sufficient to keep the neighborhood safe, especially when they insist on using such a hazardous chemical as HF.
Torrance Refinery Action Alliance 