The purpose of this document is to describe incidents of hydrogen sulfide detection at the Magruder Middle School, which neighbors the Mobil refinery in Torrance, California. This description is gathered from articles in the Los Angeles Times, dated June 25, 1989 and January 14, 1990.
Magruder Middle School is located at 185th Street and Bailey Street in Torrance, California. The location is 1/4 mile northwest of the boundary of the Mobil Torrance refinery, which can process 125,000 barrels of crude oil a day (for comparison, the peak production in the Clearview Project is projected to be about 50,000 barrels of crude oil a day). At the present time, crude oil extracted from Holly is transported by the Jovalan barge to Torrance.
A gas that probably was hydrogen sulfide was detected by students, faculty, and the principal of Magruder Middle School on the morning of March 9, 1989. At the time, the wind direction was from the refinery toward the school, and the gas was noticed in the classrooms that faced the refinery. Subsequent incidents occurred on April 12, July 5, and on one other day between March 9 and July 5.
The principal of Magruder, Sidney Morrison, and one teacher, Kathryn Brooks, reported a rotten egg smell during the March 9 incident. Hydrogen sulfide gas, in volume concentrations above about 30 parts per billion, but less than 100 parts per million, smells like rotten eggs.
One teacher, Gertrude Delaney, experienced severe pain that spread from her throat through her jaws and arms. These symptoms are consistent with exposure to a volume concentration of hydrogen sulfide between 200 and 500 parts per million. The odor of rotten eggs is not apparent at concentrations this high. Concentrations of 1000 parts per million cause death within minutes of exposure.
Delaney's teaching assistant, Lorie Ustick, experienced difficulty breathing.
Delaney and Brooks were subsequently diagnosed with chemical bronchitis. Delaney missed 3 months of work, apparently due to health problems related to the incident. Both Delaney and Ustick transferred to other schools to avoid hydrogen sulfide risk.
Mobil Oil paid medical expenses of Brooks, Delaney, and Ustick. It is not clear from the newspaper articles whether Mobil accepts responsibility for release of the hydrogen sulfide.
An Air Quality Management District spokesman, William Kelly, stated that incomplete flaring of gas at the Torrance refinery could have released the hydrogen sulfide, and cited Mobil for improper operation of the flares.
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