Bail set for 2 indicted Arkema executives
Leaders charged after Crosby plant exploded, releasing chemicals during Harvey flooding
Arkema attorney Rusty Hardin said Monday that the French national company stands “totally behind” two executives indicted last week on charges of “reckless” release of toxic chemicals during Hurricane Harvey last August.
CEO Richard Rowe and plant manager Leslie Comardelle had their initial appearances in Harris County District Court on Monday. Bail was set at $20,000 each.
Both individuals will continue working for the company despite the charges, and Arkema is paying their legal fees, the company said.
While Monday’s proceedings focused solely on the two individuals, the company also was indicted by a grand jury Friday.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office on Friday said Arkema, as well as Rowe and Comardelle, put residents and first responders at risk when the Crosby plant caught fire in August 2017 as Harvey dumped record rainfall on the Houston area.
A grand jury charged Arkema, Rowe and Comardelle with reckless emission of an air contaminant under the Texas Water Code.
The charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison for the individuals and a fine of up to $1 million for the corporation.
“This is the most outrageous,
dumbest, wrong, unfair indictment I’ve ever encountered in my 43 years of dealing with the criminal justice system,” Hardin said, adding that he’s “comfortable” that a jury will find the two executives not guilty.
The attorney representing 142 clients who have sued Arkema cheered Friday’s indictments. In a statement issued Monday, attorney Mo Aziz commended District Attorney Kim Ogg and Assistant District Attorney Alex Forrest for “holding to account a corporation that has acted with impunity and disregard for the safety and welfare of the public.”
‘Grossly negligent’
The last time a chemical company faced criminal charges for a major incident in Texas was 2005, when an explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery killed 15 workers and injured almost 200. BP paid $50 million in fines for the incident, but no one from the company served prison time.
Hardin called the charges against Rowe, Comardelle and the company “tremendously unfortunate,” especially because Arkema had a hurricane preparedness plan.
“No one anywhere in Houston anticipated a storm like this,” he added. “This is an indictment that charges the victim, just like everyone else in the community, and I’ve never seen the victim of a national catastrophe charged with a crime.”
But federal documents showed Arkema wasn’t even prepared for a much smaller flood, despite being partially in a flood plain.
The company’s emergency plan provided little direction to employees on how to handle major floods, and as a result, it couldn’t keep combustible organic peroxides cool. Its main power transformers and backup generators were not high enough off the ground. Neither was its backup liquid nitrogen cooling system.
And Arkema’s last line of defense failed when water inundated the fuel tanks that power its freezer trucks. Over the next week, nine trailers of organic peroxides erupted in flames, sending pillars of fire and thick plumes of black smoke into the air. More than six first-responders were sickened, according to civil suits filed against the company.
“These indictments further support what we have been claiming in the civil lawsuit since last fall,” Aziz’s statement said.
“Arkema was not only negligent but grossly negligent in allowing hundreds of residents and first responders to be exposed to toxic chemicals, many of whom are still suffering the consequences,” Aziz said.
A federal Chemical Safety Board investigation said Arkema’s insurer at the time warned the company of flood risks a year before Harvey hit.
‘We’ve indicted a hero’
Rowe became the CEO of Arkema’s North America division in 2015. He’s worked with the company for the last 16 years.
Tim Johnson, Rowe’s attorney, said Monday that suggesting anybody was reckless during Houston area’s historic flooding event “is just ridiculous.”
And Paul Nugent, Comardelle’s lawyer, said his client is innocent and that no one committed a crime during this “natural disaster of historic proportions.”
Comardelle has worked for Arkema more than 25 years. He was part of the ride-out crew that tried to prevent the release.
“At the end of the day (Comardelle) is a hero. We’ve indicted a hero for a felony,” Hardin said. Rowe “was in Philly running the company … he can’t even get into Houston to try to help until like that Friday or so.”
Hardin expects the trial to take place early next year. The next court hearing in the criminal case is set for Monday, Oct. 22.