Chemical plants face major flooding risks, climate report finds
Petrochemical plants outside of Houston may easily flood during a bad storm and will become extremely vulnerable to flooding over the next decade, an analysis by Jupiter Intelligence, a California firm that calculates risks of climate change for companies.
Three facilities in Pasadena — Dixie Chemical’s Bayport Plant, Carpenter Chemical’s Roger Powell Plant and Athlon Bayport Plant — were analyzed with Jupiter’s model to determine the extent of flooding from 100-year and 500year storms.
About 40 percent of the plants would be inundated with water during a 100-year flood, according to the model, which incorporates data by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers — that risk increases to 80 percent by 2030. A 500-year storm, such as Hurricane Harvey, would completely swamp the plants.
In a statement, Halliburton, which owns the Athlon Bayport plant, said that the company is fully prepared for storms and floods.
“We have extensive hurricane plans that our health, safety, and environmental team refreshes yearly as we gain knowledge of flooding and potential flooding
along the Gulf Coast,” said Erin Fuchs, a spokesperson for Halliburton. “We have not experienced any issues with recent flooding events, including Hurricane Harvey, at the Athlon Bayport Plant.”
The other two companies included in the analysis did not respond to requests for comment.
Jupiter Intelligence CEO Rich Sorkin said it’s not just these plants at risk. The three included in the analysis, he said, are representative of the climate risk profiles of most of the plants located along the Gulf. As for plants that have lower levels of risk, Sorkin said that’s mostly a matter of chance.
“Luck is a big factor,” Sorkin said. “For a lot of these facilities, the land has been in use for 30, 50 or even 100 years. (Flooding risks) were not considerations at the time.”
The lack of preparedness to deal with increasing flooding risks is a problem all along the Houston Ship Channel where chemical companies operate, Sorkin said. Meanwhile, the severity of flooding is expected to only get worse of the next decade as climate change spurs more powerful storms and rising sea levels; the probability of plants experiencing a 500-year flood increases four to five times by 2030, according to Jupiter’s model.
In the report, Jupiter notes that the “very functionality” of the properties could be threatened in the coming decades if designs are not upgraded to prepare for climate change and could result in millions of dollars in equipment damages.
Flooded facilities also pose a risk to the public if damage causes the plants to release chemicals into the environment, through emissions or spills. During Hurricane Harvey, more than 100 toxic releases of chemicals occurred, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis of government data.
An activist climate shareholder group, As You Sow, recently filed proposals with major energy companies requesting reports on the public health and financial risks of building chemical plants along the Gulf Coast as climate risks increase. Phillips 66 shareholders supported the proposal, while shareholders at Exxon and Chevron rejected it.