Flare Ups at ExxonMobil and City Hall Mark a Disturbing Week in Torrance

A 13 hour flaring event at ExxonMobil marked a heated and disturbing week in Torrance. Early Wednesday Torrance Alerts notified residents that a planned meeting for March 19^th hosted by the South Coast Air Quality Management District was cancelled.

Local activists had been rallying the public to attend the meeting as it was scheduled to consider a proposed order to allow ExxonMobil to violate emission standards as it restarts gasoline refining equipment damaged in last year’s explosion. The City provided no explanation for why the meeting was cancelled, but rumors have circulated that it was postponed at the behest of Exxon’s lawyers.

The drama escalated later that evening as residents received a flurry of conflicting communications from the City about the flaring. Some of those are as follows:

“ExxonMobil is experiencing a large flaring event.”

“TFD responded to ExxonMobil for a HazMat response.  Upon arrival TFD investigated and found a flaring event due to a power outage.”

“A second flaring event is taking place at ExxonMobil.”

“There is not a second flaring event. Both ExxonMobil Flares are occurring simultaneously.”

“ExxonMobil refinery is coming back online. Planned flaring will continue.”

Other reports would surface that the incident was caused by a single mylar balloon. Some cast doubts, however, on the entire story by claiming So Cal Edison never reported any power outages.  Current School Board member Don Lee also questioned the power outage explanation by writing on the Torrance Town Hall FB Group:

 “Doesn’t ExxonMobil generate their own power? I know they have a cogeneration plant and they have high priority service from SCE (this means they have their own service into the refinery) that isn’t supposed to be affected by local power outages.”

While ExxonMobil purportedly has 30 days to report the amount of excess emissions, the Torrance Refinery Alliance is already claiming on their FB page that the flaring resulted in several toxic chemicals being spewed in the air.

What really did happen? Was it a planned flaring event per the last communication from the City?  If not, how could a single mylar balloon cause such an event?  Why all the miscommunication? How many chemicals were spewed into the air and what is the impact to the air quality?  What is the plan for future flaring events as the refinery comes back online?

Yet, despite the perturbation created by these unanswered questions surrounding the refinery, the real heat in Torrance may be emanating from City Hall and the Mayor’s office. A Daily Breeze article revealed that the District Attorney’s office is now reviewing the circumstances that led to the FPPC fining the Mayor’s campaign $35,000.

Mayor Furey dodged accountability for the incident saying he was not personally involved. His son, Patrick Furey Jr., blamed the entire affair on political enemies of his father.

It is unlikely, however, that critics will be placated by those responses. Last Council meeting, Arthur Plourde – who was controversially removed from a Commision post last year – angrily denounced the Mayor and claimed he was going to have him recalled. Another speaker called for the removal of Patrick Furey Jr. from his Traffic Commission post.

Councilwoman Ashcraft and Griffiths have supported discussing the removal of Patrick Furey Jr. from his post on the Traffic Commission, but appear to be hoping the community will take the lead with Councilwoman Ashcraft openly wondering how many people would come to the next Council meeting to speak out on the matter.

With that backdrop, next week’s meeting should prove interesting.  Are this week’s flares emblematic of a political firestorm underway in Torrance? Will more people speak out? Or will this scandal die down?

Last Council meeting former Jared Sydney Torrance award winner and consistent Council meeting attendee, Janet Payne, decried the lack of decorum of many residents who expressed their displeasure at the Council’s action on historic preservation by clapping at the end of each speaker who spoke out against it. If Ms. Payne is concerned about clapping, she may not want come next week as we might see more fireworks in the chambers.