Refinery Penalty Funds to Benefit Air Quality Projects

Region Now Free of Highly Toxic Chemical “HF”

 REFINERY PENALTY FUNDS TO BENEFIT AIR QUALITY PROJECTS

More than $1 million in air pollution penalties collected from the Valero oil refinery in Wilmington will be used to fund air quality and public health-related projects in communities surrounding the facility, air quality officials decided today.

Valero, previously known as Ultramar, paid the penalty after it failed to meet a May 9, 2007 deadline to phase out its use of the toxic chemical hydrogen fluoride (HF) at its Wilmington facility.  The refinery ended its use of the chemical in January.

“These penalty monies will benefit local air quality and public health projects in the communities impacted by Valero’s operations,” said William A. Burke, Ed.D., chairman of the South Coast Air Quality Management District Governing Board.  “In addition, this signals the complete phase-out of this highly toxic chemical at all Southland facilities.”

AQMD this spring will consider project proposals for air quality mitigation, public health education and public health treatments that will benefit communities within a 10-mile radius of the Valero refinery.  For more information on how to submit a proposal for funding, go to www.aqmd.gov/hb/attachments/2008/April/080412AB.doc.  The deadline for submitting proposals is May 8.

Valero and HF

In September 2002, AQMD adopted nearly two dozen Environmental Justice initiatives including the phase-out of the use of HF in the Southland refineries.  In February 2003, AQMD entered into a binding agreement with the Valero oil refinery in Wilmington to significantly reduce the potential risks associated with accidental releases of the toxic chemical HF.  Valero was the only remaining refinery in the Southland using HF in concentrated form.  

Under the agreement, Valero agreed to replace its use of HF with so-called modified HF by May 9, 2007.  Modified HF contains additives that significantly reduce the chemical’s ability to form a vapor cloud in the event of an accidental release.  Valero also agreed to enhance its safety systems and pay a penalty of $5,000 per day (up to a maximum of $1 million per calendar year) for each day that it failed to meet the deadline for phasing out HF. 

Valero accumulated $1.125 million in penalties before completing the phase-out of HF on January 25, 2008. 

The chemical HF is a pungent, highly corrosive acid used at some oil refineries in the alkylation process to boost gasoline octane.  HF also is used at chemical plants to manufacture compounds including refrigerants.  The chemical poses a risk to nearby residents and businesses because in the event of an accidental release, it can form a dense, fuming cloud capable of causing severe damage to human skin and lung tissue.

In the late 1980s, four oil refineries and one chemical plant in the Southland used HF.  Since then, two of the refineries using HF shut down, one voluntarily switched to modified HF and the chemical plant phased out its HF use.  With the recent phase-out of HF at Valero, no facility in the Southland uses the hazardous chemical.

In other action today, the Board:

• Approved the purchase of 750 additional electric lawn mowers, for $136,875, due to the strong demand for this year’s Mow Down Air Pollution Exchange; and

• Awarded $100,000 to the California Chapter of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America to sponsor an asthma camp in August for 130 Southland children with severe asthma.

AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

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