Anxiety flares as probes of plant fire begin
Initial questions target preventative steps, health risks posed by chemicals released
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board on Wednesday announced it would investigate the three-day chemical blaze at the International Terminals Co., hours after emissions of carcinogenic benzene spiked near the Deer Park plant, prompting city officials to order residents to shelter in place for most of the morning.
The independent federal agency, which also investigated the 2017 Arkema plant fire in Crosby, does not fine companies or issue violations. Instead, it conducts what is known as “root cause” investigations to determine how an incident occurred and make recommendations to the company, government regulators and other stakeholders on how to prevent it from happening again.
One CSB investigator already is in the area and two more will arrive next week once they can get access to the ITC site, according to CSB interim Executive Authority Kristen Kulinowski.
In communities around the Houston Ship Channel, relief residents felt that the fire was out — and its miles-long dark plume of smoke dissipated — gave way to
anxiety over the volatile compounds sitting in damaged tanks at the petroleum storage facility or streaming into nearby waterways.
With some nearby schools closed for another day, some local leaders grew exasperated with the company’s handling of the incident. Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, who represents east Harris County, said he is disappointed ITC officials have not disclosed more information about the fire and its aftermath during the company’s news conferences.
“They’re an important part of the economy; we need to recognize that,” Garcia said. “But this event demonstrates how one tank farm on fire can create destruction and impact the economy, can create fear, and to a certain extent, chaos.”
‘A hostage choice’
State Rep. Brisco Cain, R-Baytown, issued a statement calling on the Texas House of Representatives to hold a hearing on the incident, which he called “devastating to our community.”
“The nation has been captivated by dramatic images of flames and smoke plumes, but our community has had to deal with the very real questions about air and water quality while waiting for information from ITC. Our community deserves transparency and accountability as we recover from this incident,” Cain said.
The section of the ship channel facility where the fire damaged 11 of 15 storage tanks sat covered in flame-retardant foam, which resembles a blanket of snow. The
substance, used to fight stubborn chemical fires, is designed to deprive flammable compounds of oxygen.
The foam, however, is susceptible to wind shifts and evaporation. On Wednesday afternoon, a gap in the foam ignited into a fireball that crews quickly put out. The benzene leak early Thursday morning likely was caused by wind gusts that blew the foam off a tank containing roughly 40,000 barrels of pyrolysis gasoline, ITC spokeswoman Alice Richardson said at a morning news conference.
Pyrolysis gasoline, also known as “pygas” is a benzene-rich liquid byproduct that can be blended with other chemicals for use as a gasoline additive.
“This tank was compromised quite a bit,” Richardson said, adding that its roof and interior sealant had been destroyed by the fire.
Richardson declined to say whether residents near the burn site were safe and urged the public to heed warnings from safety officials. As she had in previous appearances before reporters, Richardson grew emotional while answering questions.
“ITC cares. We care a lot,” she said through tears. “We have been good stewards. We have been good neighbors.”
With the most immediate danger addressed — a raging blaze at a facility with more than 200 tanks of combustible chemicals — ITC now faces a more complicated set of challenges. Spokesman Dale Samuelson described the company’s options since the fire started Sunday as a “hostage choice,” though he said putting out the fire and attempting to contain leftover
fuels is the least hazardous path forward.
“The issue with the foam being blown off the top of the pygas was a much lower risk than letting the tank farm burn, and run the risk of it jumping to other tanks, and the weather changing, and smoke coming down on residents in the area,” Samuelson said.
The smoldering burn site continued to radiate heat Thursday, and the company had yet to determine when investigators may visit. Samuelson said to lower the risk of further flare-ups or chemical releases, crews carefully were siphoning fuel from the pygas tank to another part of the facility.
Shift to prevention
By 3 p.m., he said about 14,000 barrels of the volatile compound remained. The company has yet to disclose the volume of substances in other damaged tanks, which contain gasoline blends, base oils, xylene and naptha. Samuelson said ITC is unable to estimate when the chemicals will be removed from the burn site.
As outside investigations begin, including a probe by the Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office, more attention is shifting to how ITC could have prevented the incident from happening in the first place.
Such facilities should have a number of layers of protection to aid in that effort, said Jim Holste, interim director of the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center at Texas A&M University. The center is a worldwide authority on chemical safety.
Such protections, Holste said, would include frequent tank inspections that could reveal leaks and allow for them to be addressed
quickly, chemical detectors to find any leaks or problems with the tanks, and a foamequipped fire suppression system to help put out smaller fires before they grow to infernos that can overwhelm local firefighters, as was the case in Deer Park.
“The whole intent is to contain it before it causes another sort of damage,” Holste said.
Residents also have raised concerns about possible water pollution from the burned tanks, which sit on the south bank of Buffalo Bayou.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality first mentioned the collection of water samples Tuesday, and on Wednesday said a state contractor was working with the EPA, the Coast Guard, and an ITC contractor “to assess impacts of firefighting foam on waterways adjacent to the facility,” including Tucker Bayou and the Houston Ship Channel.
The agency had not released testing results as of Thursday afternoon, and a TCEQ web page devoted to the incident included references to air monitoring but no information about water quality. Latrice Babin, deputy director of the Harris County Pollution Control Services Department said her agency took water samples Thursday but had not yet received test results.
The lack of information about contamination downstream spurred the Galveston Bay Foundation, in partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund and Texas A&M, to begin taking water samples, President Bob Stokes said. The groups planned to begin sampling late Thursday or Friday morning.
“When we called them directly they weren’t willing to share any details,” Stokes said of the TCEQ. “I don’t think there’s been a lot of transparency on the water side to date. We’re concerned with all the things that might have run off that site. They’ve got it boomed at the base of Tucker Bayou, but those booms didn’t stop all water flow, and you can see a sheen outside the boom already.”
Groups take initiative
Stokes said he chiefly is concerned about the chemicals that burned and any byproducts produced when those materials combusted, as some of the substances known to be involved are toxic to marine life.
“We want to do a test for a wide spectrum of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) in the water,” he said. “We are entitled to understand what’s going on out there and then we can make conclusions about how big a problem it is.”
Jordan Macha, of the nonprofit Bayou City Waterkeeper, echoed that.
“We’re not entirely sure what the makeup is of the chemicals that have been used for the foam spray or what chemicals have been flowing down into the ship channel or, potentially, the bay,” she said. “What impact are they going to have on the nurseries and fisheries that operate and live in the bay? It’s important for TCEQ to be fully transparent about the risks that are there and what they’re doing to fix the problem.”