Bankruptcy judge grants more time for blast cleanup
In emergency hearing, TCEQ says it could take weeks to remove harmful chemicals
It might be another two weeks before the Gessner explosion site is cleared of remaining chemicals, including the highly flammable propylene, the state’s environmental agency said Tuesday.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality called for an emergency hearing in federal bankruptcy court Tuesday and asked the judge to keep dozens of lawyers and experts from entering the west Houston site, citing safety concerns. The judge told the agency to come back with a timeline for removing remaining chemicals, which it submitted Tuesday afternoon.
TCEQ had explained in the morning hearing that representatives from Watson Grinding & Manufacturing were expected to remove those remaining chemicals from tanks and cylinders by the end of Monday, before allowing interested parties to tour the site. But when officials stopped by the plant Tuesday morning, they saw the gases remained as more than 40 people were getting ready to enter the facility.
The TCEQ told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur, who is presiding over Watson Grinding & Manufacturing and Watson Valve Services’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding, that the site could still be hazardous.
“Even if tanks and cylinders are not currently leaking, no one knows if they are structurally sound and even if it is ‘inert’ gas in a container, such a gas under pressure can clearly cause the container to become a projectile,” the TCEQ said in court documents. “Given the lack of
knowledge regarding the post-explosion structural integrity, it is unacceptable to have multiple parties touring the facility prior
to the removal of the gases.”
The blast killed at least three people and damaged 450 structures. Investigations are ongoing, but so far officials have said it appears that electrical arcing inside the warehouse sparked the propylene that was leaking from a pipe.
There are more than 30 civil suits pending.
While attorney Mo Aziz, who represents the family of a worker who died during the blast, said he didn’t oppose a delay, he wanted
to make sure evidence was preserved. In particular, he said, they were concerned about preserving evidence near one of the tanks.
“At this point we are not opposed to removing the gases,” he said, “but we are
opposed to disturbing evidence close to another tank.”
TCEQ proposed assessing the site and starting to move some of the chemicals within the next 10 to 14 days. As a compromise, it will coordinate with attorneys for the company and plaintiffs to document a pipeline of interest that’s near that particular tank and to bisect a section of the pipeline as evidence.