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E-mail StoryNurses join anti-refinery chemical campaign
| Tuesday, Apr 29 2008 2:31 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Apr 29 2008 12:47 PM
Some Bakersfield nurses have joined a group opposing the proposed use of a controversial chemical at Big West’s refinery on Rosedale Highway.
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The Big West of California refinery on Rosedale Highway is seeking to expand its operations. It had an ammonia leak recently.
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They’re aligning with Bakersfield Citizens Against Hydrofluoric Acid, whose members include concerned residents and people from the Kern County Firefighters union. State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, also opposes using HF at the refinery, which is proposed to be expanded.
“Anyone who comes into contact with this acid can experience excruciating pain, severe burns, pulmonary edema and worse,” Rachel Carver, a nurse at Memorial Hospital, said in a news release Tuesday. “Our emergency response system is under tremendous pressure as it is. This is the last thing Bakersfield needs.”
The nurses, according to spokeswoman Betsy Ramsey, are backed by the California Nurses Association.
Bakersfield Citizens Against Hydrofluoric Acid is trying to convince the refinery to abandon plans to use modified hydrofluoric acid in favor of sulfuric acid.
Refinery officials maintain the modified chemical is safe and its risks are no greater than sulfuric acid.
Hydrofluoric acid gained a bad reputation after several deadly releases at U.S. refineries in the 1980s and 1990s. It can form a ground-hugging cloud when spilled that can travel for several miles. Modified HF contains an additive that reduces the chemical's ability to vaporize by up to 80 percent.
Experts widely agree that modified HF and sulfuric acid are safer than pure HF. But there is no clear consensus on whether one of them is safer than the other.