6 South Bay Emitters Top Toxic List

By Lee Peterson STAFF WRITER

Six South Bay and Harbor Area manufacturers rank among the county’s top 10 in a recently released balance sheet of toxic chemicals emitted or discarded by industrial plants and factories.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s annual “Toxics Release Inventory” reflects a spreadsheet balance of the output to air, water and ground by industry of all major amounts of toxic chemicals. The most recent data is from 2005.

California in 2005 continued a decreasing trend in toxic chemicals released, compared with the previous year, down 4 percent to 46.3 million pounds reported by more than 1,500 plants. The chemicals in question are often legally permitted emissions to the air, discharges to waterways or shipments to landfills.

The drop in releases, although not as sharp as the previous year, was expected, an EPA official said Friday.

While oil refineries make up the bulk of the county’s top toxin releasers — not to mention two of the state’s top 10 — the fuel makers are also credited with massive reductions in airborne emissions that contributed to the statewide fall in toxic releases.

EPA officials said El Segundo’s Chevron Refinery and the ConocoPhillips refinery in Wilmington combined to cut more than 500,000 pounds of air releases.

The EPA requires industrial facilities to submit data on the types and amounts of all the chemicals they process in a year, above a certain threshold.

Activist groups, including Environment California, said Friday that next year’s inventory report will be significantly less revealing because reporting thresholds for certain toxic chemicals will be raised, thus giving some industries a pass.

Not likely to be exempted are oil refineries and chemical plants, which tend to have high levels of chemical emissions. And as such businesses are concentrated in the South Bay and Harbor Area, the local region is well-represented at the top of the inventory list.

However, EPA officials point out that the data does not reflect violations of environmental statutes. It also does not directly equate with health risk. Risk calculation depends upon exposure and toxicity of the chemical in question. For example, high volumes of less toxic chemicals, the EPA said, may pose less risk than low volumes of highly toxic chemicals.

The ExxonMobil Torrance refinery was the county’s second- biggest emitter, with 1.1 million pounds of emis- sions in 2005, down from 1.3 million pounds in 2004. Most of that is airborne ammonia, which is actually used by many refineries to reduce emissions of particulates and nitrogen oxides in the air.

The Chevron refinery was third in the county, with 893,000 pounds; mostly nitrates to water that is sent to the ocean. Although it was credited for lowering airborne ammonia emissions in 2005, its overall output actually slightly rose that year, according to TRI data, because of additional zinc emissions.

ConocoPhillips in Wilmington was fifth in the county, with 821,000 pounds, mostly airborne ammonia. That’s down from 1.1 million pounds.

In sixth was Dow Chemical in Torrance at 699,000 pounds, about the same as the previous year. Sanyo Solar LLC in Carson, a maker of solar panels, was eighth with 572,000 pounds of releases in 2005. The BP Carson refinery was ninth, with 551,000 pounds, about the same as the previous year.

Quemetco of the City of Industry topped the county list.

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