Torrance to Address ExxonMobil Explosion at Council Meeting

According to the Daily Breeze, the City will hold a briefing at the outset of Tuesday’s City Council meeting with regard to the explosion that occurred at the ExxonMobil refinery last Wednesday.  This briefing follows a Town Hall meeting held Friday night by ExxonMobil in which many residents expressed displeasure about the lack of communication from ExxonMobil executives and the City in the immediate aftermath and days following the incident.  Several of the concerns raised at that meeting, and in other forums, need to be addressed Tuesday night.

The Emergency Operations Plan adopted by the City of Torrance outlines Torrance’s local alerting and warning systems.  According to that plan, Torrance has established the Torrance Community Warning System (TCWS) to communicate with affected residents in the case of an emergency.  Several elements comprise the TCWS including a Community Warning Siren System at ExxonMobil, a CityWatch telephone notification system, and a Crenshaw Boulevard Barrier System.

The Emergency Operations Plan states that the Community Warning Siren System “can be activated by either the Torrance Fire Department or refinery officials.”  In this instance, the sirens were not activated at all.  Many in the community are wondering why not.  At the Town Hall meeting, refinery officials claimed the responsibility for activating the system lied with the City of Torrance.

The CityWatch system was utilized to notify impacted residents to “shelter in place.”  The Daily Breeze reported, however, that those automated messages were not received by many until 90 minutes after the incident.   The Breeze also reported that “police closed Del Amo Boulevard along the south edge of the refinery, but did not close barriers installed on Crenshaw Boulevard, the closest road to the fluid catalytic cracking unit that was severely damaged in the Wednesday morning explosion.”

Why weren’t the sirens activated?  How come it took 90 minutes for the CityWatch telephone system to notify residents?  Why wasn’t the Crenshaw Barrier System utilized?  These are just a few of the questions with regard to the TCWS that should be addressed by the City Tuesday night.

Lingering questions also remain about the possible health impacts of the incident.  Representatives from ExxonMobil and the Torrance Fire Department have communicated that the ash-like substance that blanketed the City was non-toxic and posed nothing more than an irritant risk. Yet not many details were shared about how that conclusion was reached.  For example, how many tests were completed of the substance and who conducted the tests?  How were the samples obtained? And how many samples were tested?  What specific elements or chemicals were contained in the samples?  Was an independent test completed?

Other, perhaps more important, concerns also need to be addressed.  What was the root cause of the explosion?  And what corrective actions will the refinery undertake to ensure a similar incident does not occur again?

Thus far, Torrance City officials have been relatively silent on the incident.  The mayor and most of the Council, for example, were noticeably absent from the Town Hall meeting on Friday night.