Good Morning: SHELTER IN PLACE

Early this morning a widespread power outage occurred in the South Bay. This caused a "flaring event" at the oil refinery now known as the Torrance Refinery Group. At 6:19, refinery workers were told to shelter in place and to remain "upwind" of the refinery. Within the hour, non-essential personnel were evacuated from the refinery. No warning sirens were sounded for local residents. For many, their first alert was the sound of news helicopters filming the giant fireball and huge plume of black smoke spreading from the refinery. The wind on this particular morning was 2 MPH towards the NE. Landlines for local residents were called around 6:30 AM. The first text alerts (via http://www.torranceca.gov/torrancealerts) directing area residents to shelter in place came at 6:45 AM- one FULL HOUR after the event started. No nixle alerts were sent via text or email until one from the Torrance Police Department at 8:28 AM notifying residents the shelter in place order had been lifted at 7:12 AM. HOW DOES THIS MAKE YOU FEEL ABOUT A DEADLY RELEASE OF MHF??????? Who dies and how many die will LITERALLY depend on which way the wind blows. That is UNACCEPTABLE. This morning it would have been my entire extended family. Along with the hard work being done by TRAA and South Bay Flare, we all have an opportunity to make our concerns heard in next month's election. David Hadley, CA Assembly District 66, DROPPED the ball. He could have moved our cause forward last February, but instead he let California Assembly legislation to replace MHF/HF die. Because of his inaction, we lost a full 8 months and the potential opportunity to have this deadly chemical replaced before the refinery restarted. To add insult to injury he sent out a recent election mailer with a fiery refinery in the backdrop saying he lived 150 yards from a refinery and he was with us on refinery safety. My 17-year-old son picked up the mailer, studied it, did a few minutes of research, and then announced: "Mom, do you know where David Hadley lives? He lives 150 yards from the Chevron refinery in El Segundo. I looked it up and do you know that's one of the safest refineries in the country? Not only that, but Chevron is investing millions of dollars to make it even safer. I'm sorry Mom, but David Hadley doesn't need to worry about his kids dying from MHF like you. He just wants you to think that so you'll vote for him." Meanwhile Hadley's opponent, Al Muratsuchi, is endorsed by South Bay FLARE, and has pledged to act on the following plan to save South Bay residents from a deadly MHF accident. This morning confirmed- for me- this is a ONE-issue race. My family needs an ally in the California legislature when it comes to replacing the deadly MHF in the South Bay. http://www.alforassembly.com/issues/al-muratsuchi-s-6-point-refinery-safety-plan