Duluth City Councilors Vote to Ask EPA to Conduct Study on Hydrogen Fluoride

Duluth City Councilors vote to ask that the Husky Refinery be rebuilt with the safety of the Twin Ports in mind.

DULUTH, Minn- Duluth city councilors vote to move forward with a resolution asking that the Husky Refinery in Superior be reconstructed with the safety of the Twin Ports community in mind.

This after mayor Emily Larson proposed to question to the Environmental Protection Agency with focus on their use of hydrogen fluoride at the refinery, saying she doesn’t believe communities have been made aware of just dangerous the chemical is.

City councilors ultimately approved mayor Larson’s resolution to question the safe rebuild of the Husky Refinery in a unanimous vote, but not without first amending the mayor’s original resolution focused on the specific use of the chemical hydrogen fluoride.

The original resolution asks that the EPA study the use of hydrogen fluoride by refineries in the Twin Ports region.

Her original proposal focused on the fact that the last study of HF was in 1993 and she says an updated study is long overdue.

Councilor Arik Foresman proposed an amendment to that original resolution at  Monday night’s meeting, however, asking that the city of Duluth also recognize the importance of the refinery to the Twin Ports economy and that the city hopes to see the facility reconstructed safely utilizing the talents of local tradeswoman and tradesmen.

Councilor Em Westerlund was the only councilor to vote against the amendment, saying it takes the focus away from what is really important.

“I think it goes without saying that obviously the impact on jobs and families in this region is understood…  I guess my concern would just be i feel like it’s starting to meander a little bit from what is a very direct and straight forward ask of the EPA to focus on this issue,” Westerlund said.

The motion to amend was ultimately passed in a 7 to 1 vote.

Several city councilors thanked mayor Larson for her proposal of this resolution…

Including Joel Sipress who said that by passing the resolution, the council is adding to the voice of a federal agency, referring to the chemical safety board’s questioning of the EPA’s studies on hydrogen fluoride.

“I think it’s perfectly appropriate. In fact it’s our responsibility to lobby these regulatory bodies to protect the public interest and i think that’s what everybody up here was elected to do,” Sipress said.

Husky officials have said they will be implementing even more safety measures involving HF as they begin the plant’s rebuild in the Fall of 2019. They believe there is no better chemical than hydrogen fluoride to produce high octane gasolines, which is part of the refinery’s product mix and economic viability.

Meanwhile, in Superior, councilor Dan Olson will have a resolution before the council atTuesday night’s meeting that supports the rebuild of the Husky Energy Refinery.

Olson’s resolution cites the importance of the nearly 200 local jobs at Husky, the products it producing for local construction projects like tar and Husky’s willingness to hire local tradeswomen and men and contractors for the rebuild.

Olson says the resolution puts trust in Husky to operate to the highest safety standards.