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Preventing Mass Casualties from Release of Hydrofluoric Acid at Refineries Act of 2026
To amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to prohibit the use of hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid) at petroleum refineries, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Toxic Substances Control Act to prohibit the use of hydrofluoric acid (hydrogen fluoride) at petroleum refineries. New refineries beginning operations after enactment cannot use hydrofluoric acid for petroleum refining. Existing refineries that currently use hydrofluoric acid must discontinue its use within 5 years of enactment. Violations are subject to a civil penalty of $37,500 for each violation. The Environmental Protection Agency administrator is prohibited from issuing waivers to exempt refineries from this prohibition.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
7 cosponsors
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Maxine Waters’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- GUSTAR KAPLAN NUSBAUM PLLC $9,900
- INVARIANT $8,300
- SLA WORLDWIDE $6,950
- MINDSET $6,800
- EGAN-JONES RATINGS CO. $6,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Maxine Waters → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Feb 4, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. · house
- Feb 4, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 4, 2026
Ms. Waters (for herself, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Garcia of California, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Norton, and Mr. Cohen) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to prohibit the use of hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid) at petroleum refineries, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Preventing Mass Casualties from Release of Hydrofluoric Acid at Refineries Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid) is an exceptionally hazardous chemical, which is used in large quantities in approximately 40 petroleum refineries in the United States to refine petroleum in order to produce high octane gasoline.
(2) Petroleum refineries are vulnerable to accidents, natural disasters, and intentional subversive acts, which could result in the release of a large quantity of hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid).
(3) The release of a sufficient quantity of hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid) from a petroleum refinery has in the past, and could in the future, caused immediate injuries or deaths to refinery workers who are exposed.
(4) The release of a sufficient quantity of hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid) from a petroleum refinery could cause a mass casualty event in the surrounding community, resulting in immediate deaths or permanent injuries to thousands of people living, working, or traveling within a radius of up to 25 miles.
(5) More than 14 million people are at risk of death or permanent injuries as a result of living in communities surrounding petroleum refineries that use hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid), and many of these at-risk communities are disproportionately impacted by environmental burdens.
(6) Alternative technologies are available that would enable petroleum refineries to convert from the use of hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid) to a vastly safer, commercially proven alternative method for refining petroleum to produce high octane gasoline, and these alternative technologies are already used in the majority of refineries in the United States.
(7) New petroleum refineries should not be allowed to use hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid) to refine petroleum, and petroleum refineries that currently use hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid) should be required to convert to a safer alternative.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF HYDROFLUORIC ACID AT PETROLEUM REFINERIES.
Section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C. 2605) is amended—
(1) by redesignating subsection (j) as subsection (k); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (i) the following:
“(j) Prohibition on Use of Hydrofluoric Acid at Petroleum Refineries.—
“(1) New refineries.—No person may use hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid) to refine petroleum at a petroleum refinery that begins operating on or after the date of enactment of this subsection.
“(2) Existing refineries.—
“(A) Prohibition.—Beginning on the date that is 5 years after the date of enactment of this subsection, no person may use hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid) to refine petroleum at a petroleum refinery that began operating before the date of enactment of this subsection.
“(B) Civil penalty.—Notwithstanding the first sentence of section 16(a)(1), the amount of a civil penalty under such first sentence for violating a provision of section 15 with respect to a requirement of this paragraph shall be $37,500 for each such violation.
“(3) Application of waiver authority.—Notwithstanding section 22, the Administrator may not issue a waiver under such section with respect to the prohibition on the use of hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid) at a petroleum refinery under this subsection.”. <all>
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