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E-mail StoryRefinery debate turns into advertising war
| Friday, May 2 2008 6:10 PM
Last Updated: Monday, May 5 2008 7:15 AM
A massive and dueling campaign to sway public opinion on a local refinery’s expansion plans is hitting people’s mailboxes, televisions and newspaper pages.
Bakersfield Citizens Against Hydrofluoric Acid
Kern County firefighters union
Bakersfield firefighters union
Bakersfield police union
Local nurses
Also opposing use of hydrofluoric acid: State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter
Kern Citizens for the Clean Fuels Project (partial list)
Kern County Taxpayers Association
Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce
Kern County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Independent Oil Producers Agency
Kevin Burton, Fruitvale School District trustee
Stan Ellis, Sierra Process Systems
Ken Mettler, Kern High School District trustee
Tulare, Clovis, Visalia chambers of commerce
Photos:
Aerial photograph of Big West refinery.
PDF:
Bakersfield residents have been peppered with television ads and letters by Big West of California touting the project while glossy mailers from a citizens group opposed to one element of it — the use of a controversial acid — have landed in mailboxes as far away as Rosamond.
In the process, unions, trade associations, nurses and even school board members have publicly taken sides.
Big West’s campaign promotes the project’s economic benefits and its commitment to safety. It’s also meant to counter information distributed by the new group Bakersfield Citizens Against Hydrofluoric Acid.
“It’s clearly our thought that this project is good for the county and we want the public to understand that,” said Bill Chadick, refinery health, safety and environmental director.
Bakersfield Citizens opposes the refinery’s plan to use modified hydrofluoric acid, or modified HF. It includes community members, the Kern County and Bakersfield firefighters unions, the Bakersfield police union and local nurses and businesses next to the refinery, according to spokeswoman Betsy Ramsey.
Since April, the group has held a press conference, created a Web site and sent mailers to convince Big West to use sulfuric acid instead of modified hydrofluoric acid.
The most recent mailer features a picture of and quote from Kern County Firefighter Union President Derek Robinson saying: “Having hydrofluoric acid in Bakersfield would give me nightmares. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
The mailer leaves out the fact, though, that Big West is proposing to use modified HF, not the pure form.
HF gained a bad reputation after several deadly releases at U.S. refineries in the 1980s and 1990s. It can form a deadly, ground-hugging cloud when spilled that can travel for several miles.
In response, the petroleum industry in the 1990s developed modified HF to address the hazards of pure HF. The modified acid contains an additive that suppresses the chemical's ability to vaporize by up to 80 percent.
Bakersfield Citizens Against Hydrofluoric Acid cites only accidents involving pure HF and does not list any incidents involving modified HF on its Web site or in literature distributed at its press conference. The group claims that modified HF can still form a toxic cloud capable of traveling miles.
Who’s right? The Kern County Planning Department is trying to determine that and answers could be in an environmental impact report expected to be released in early June.
“We’re finding that every chemical has it hazards,” said Lorelei Oviatt, chief of the Kern County Planning Department special project division.
Big West has also paid for newspaper ads and mailers for a group called Kern Citizens for the Clean Fuels Project, which includes individuals, organizations and businesses that support the expansion, such as the Kern County Taxpayers Association and the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce.
Michael Turnipseed, executive director of the Kern County Taxpayers Association, said Kern Citizens for the Clean Fuels Project is “a loose-knit group of people that understand the value of this project to the community.”