The petition highlights the horrific risks associated with a potential release of HF. It also discusses numerous near-miss incidents, some of which narrowly avoided exposing tens of thousands of people to the chemical. The federal government and oil industry have known since at least 1986 that HF tends to form a dense, ground-hugging, and spreading cloud when released into the air. This propensity to form clouds makes HF harder to contain—and therefore more dangerous—than alternative chemicals used in other refineries around the United States. Exposure to as little as 2.5 percent of one’s skin (about the size of one’s hand) to liquid HF is likely to cause fatal injury because of how easily the chemical penetrates the skin and disrupts vital functions. Inhaling HF vapor or aerosols (small airborne droplets)—the most likely way people would be exposed if there were a major spill or release—can also be deadly, causing people to drown in their own fluids.
The petition was filed by Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), Clean Air Council (CAC), and NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). The EPA will have 90 days to respond, after which the groups could explore other legal options to address the looming threat. The groups have developed materials to inform the public if they live near a refinery using HF, as well as other information about each facility, including its parent company, safety measures in place (or missing), and the number of people it puts at risk.
Following are quotes from groups lodging the petition:
“HF is so dangerous, industrial safety experts have asked why it hasn’t been banned. LA County found the local refineries using it put millions at risk,” said Alicia Rivera, Wilmington community organizer with Communities for a Better Environment. “Yet this hazard continues in a densely packed earthquake zone, even though all the other refineries in the state use far safer alternatives. This recklessness has got to stop.”
“Philadelphia narrowly avoided a massive disaster when HF was released in the Philadelphia Energy Solutions fire,” said Alex Bomstein, Clean Air Council executive director. “Thankfully, the refinery workers’ actions and luck combined to prevent a catastrophic outcome in 2019 and that refinery has closed. But the HF threat looms nearby in Trainer. The EPA needs to take the lesson from 2019 and protect all those living and working near refineries from this threat.”
“It sounds like something out of a horror movie—an acid cloud moving through a community near a refinery—but it’s real,” said Matthew Tejada, senior vice president of Environmental Health at NRDC. “This is an unnecessary threat to the communities around dozens of refineries. The EPA should fix this situation before people are hurt or killed. At a time when oil companies are making tens of billions of dollars every year in profit, the least they can do is adopt safer alternatives that better protect the communities that neighbor their facilities”
More information can be found on NRDC’s website at https://www.nrdc.org/court-battles/hydrogen-fluoride-refineries.
Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) is one of the preeminent environmental justice organizations in the nation. The mission of CBE is to build people’s power in California’s low-income communities of color to achieve environmental health and justice by preventing and reducing pollution by building green, healthy, and sustainable communities and environments. http://www.cbecal.org/
Clean Air Council is a member-supported environmental organization serving Pennsylvania and the surrounding regions. The Council is dedicated to protecting everyone’s right to a healthy environment. The Council works through a broad array of sustainability and public health initiatives, including public education, community action, government oversight, and enforcement of environmental laws. For more information, please visit www.cleanair.org
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).
