Company: Over 40 chemicals released in K-Solv fire

More than 40 air contaminants were released during the KSolv fire that burned for more than two hours Wednesday, a preliminary list that environmental advocates say highlights the ongoing risk that communities near industrial sites face everyday.

“Pollution typically isn’t as visible as it was during this event,” said Corey Williams of Air Alliance Houston. “But the chronic exposure risks that occur everyday at the interface between these facilities and communities is something that I think is more troubling than these one-off events.”

Some of the chemicals that burned or were released were known hazardous air pollutants, said Grace Tee Lewis, of the Environmental Defense Fund.

Risk depends on length and intensity of exposure. (A shelter-inplace order was issued as a precaution; county and state air monitoring detected no cause for alarm.)

The company filed its early estimate of released contaminants with the Texas Commission on

Environmental Quality. It listed the cause for the fire as a transfer of a toluene and naphtha mixture to a container, but the Harris County Fire Marshal is still investigating.

The 41 contaminants included the following, as described by fact-sheets from the Environmental Protection Agency, National Cancer Institute and New Jersey Department of Health:

Tetrachloroethylene: Inhalation can irritate the upper respiratory tract and eyes and cause kidney dysfunction, neurological effects and unconsciousness; long-term inhalation may affect the kidney, liver and immune system; the EPA considers it “likely” carcinogenic.

Trichloroethylene: Prolonged or repeated exposure to trichloroethylene causes kidney cancer; it may be associated with increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and liver cancer. Exposure can cause euphoria, facial numbness and weakness.

Naphtha: Inhalation can irritate the nose and throat; exposure can cause headaches, dizziness and passing out; repeated exposure may damage the nervous system.

Toluene: Exposure can cause fatigue, headaches and nausea; chronic inhalation can cause irritation of the upper respiratory tract and eyes, as well as sore throat and dizziness.

Xylene: Inhalation can irritate the nose and throat, causing coughing and wheezing; exposure can cause headache, dizziness and passing out.