The Columbus Dispatch

Plant explosions, spills test industry’s response

- By Matthew Brown

Explosions and fires at a Texas chemical plant inundated by Harvey’s floodwater­s are raising questions about the adequacy of industry preparatio­ns for the monster storm and stoking fears of more accidents in the days ahead.

As portions of the plant erupted in flames for the second day in a row, its owners said Friday they would let 500,000 pounds (227,000 kilograms) of liquid organic peroxide that caused two explosions continue to burn, because they have no way to cool the unstable chemical to prevent it from igniting.

The explosions came after the Arkema Inc. plant in Crosby, Texas, lost power and the company’s backup generators flooded. The site had flooded before, Arkema vice president Daryl Roberts said, yet no one at the company had planned for the amount of water that came with Harvey.

Meanwhile, the scope of the damage to the region’s refineries and chemical plants continues to expand, as companies report spills and toxic pollution releases linked to toppled fuel storage tanks, shut-down refineries and at least one broken pipeline used to transport hazardous materials.

“The event is still unfolding. But it’s clear that what actions and precaution­s were taken and were in place have proved inadequate,” said Bill Hoyle, a former senior investigat­or for the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. “When Crosby is resolved, there are many more dominoes to fall in the region.”

The six counties in the Houston area are home to some 230 chemical plants, 33 oil refineries and hundreds of miles of pipelines transporti­ng hazardous materials, according to informatio­n from the Texas Commission on Environmen­tal Quality and Sierra Club. That infrastruc­ture stretches east into Louisiana, where the storm traveled after leaving Texas and where damage is just beginning to be assessed.

U.S. Environmen­tal Protection Agency officials said they were working with the state to contact plant operators to determine their status. Andrea Morrow, a spokeswoma­n for the Texas Commission on Environmen­tal Quality, said the agency had received “no other reports of concern” from other chemical plants in the state.

Harvey is only the latest severe weather event to pound the U.S. Gulf Coast, and oil and chemical companies operating there had touted changes made to improve safety in the wake of other devastatin­g storms, most notably Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Those included elevating electrical systems to prevent power losses that can cause equipment to fail, spurring uncontroll­ed releases of pollutants, and making facilities more resistant to water or wind damage.

 ?? [KTRK VIA AP] ?? Smoke rises Friday from a chemical plant in Crosby, near Houston. Thick black smoke and towering orange flames shot up Friday after two trailers of highly unstable compounds blew up at a flooded Houston-area chemical plant, the second fire there in two days.
[KTRK VIA AP] Smoke rises Friday from a chemical plant in Crosby, near Houston. Thick black smoke and towering orange flames shot up Friday after two trailers of highly unstable compounds blew up at a flooded Houston-area chemical plant, the second fire there in two days.

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