Local News in Brief : Mobil Told to Clean Water
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State water officials say a huge plume of gasoline from the Mobil Oil Corp. refinery in Torrance has contaminated ground water at least 1,200 feet from the refinery grounds, and they have tentatively ordered the company to begin a massive cleanup.
Concerned about a potential threat to drinking water, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board distributed the preliminary order late last week directing Mobil to stop the spread of “ground water pollution caused by the uncontrolled release of hydrocarbons” from the refinery.
The order, which the state agency will consider making final at a meeting on March 28, instructs Mobil to draft a cleanup plan within a month or face fines of up to $1,000 a day.
A Mobil spokesman said the company had not received a copy of the board’s tentative order and would not comment on it.
Tests of wells drilled at the refinery and in Torrance’s nearby industrial redevelopment area have found levels of benzene, a cancer-causing chemical, thousands of times higher than the state standard for drinking water.
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