Community and environmental groups filed suit to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address the threat of an unnecessary and dangerous chemical used in dozens of American refineries despite its potential to form toxic acid clouds.
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Clean Air Council (CAC) and Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) are filing the suit after the EPA rejected the groups’ petition to address the needless risks from use of hydrogen fluoride (HF)—an extremely corrosive chemical that, if released to the air, can form a lethal, ground-hugging plume that can travel for miles, causing severe injury or death to anyone in its path. More than forty oil refineries across the country—currently owned by companies including ExxonMobil, Marathon, Valero, and Delta Airlines, among others—use HF.
TRAA has been collaborating on this effort for over a year and a half. We are not a client but a collaborator and encouraged by the filing of this lawsuit.
Read more from the NRDC Press Release.
Torrance Refinery Action Alliance 