CROSBY, Texas (AP) — A Houston-area chemical plant that lost power after Harvey engulfed the area in extensive floods was rocked by two explosions early Thursday, the plant’s operator said.
Arkema Inc. said in a statement on its website that the Harris County Emergency Operations Center reported two explosions and black smoke coming from the plant at about 2 a.m.
Authorities have not released information on how dangerous the explosions were or whether they sparked a fire at the Arkema plant in Crosby, Texas. An AP photographer at a roadblock about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the scene could see no sign of a blaze at the chemical plant as the sun rose Thursday morning.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a tweet that a deputy was taken to the hospital after inhaling fumes. Nine other deputies drove themselves to the hospital as a precaution.
The Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office said there had been “a series of chemical reactions” at the plant and advised people to stay away from the area.
A plant spokeswoman said late Wednesday that the flooded facility had lost power and backup generators due to the flooding, leaving it without refrigeration for chemicals that become volatile as the temperature rises. The plant is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Houston.
“The fire will happen. It will resemble a gasoline fire. It will be explosive and intense in nature,” spokeswoman Janet Smith told The Associated Press late Wednesday.
There was “no way to prevent” the explosion, chief executive Rich Rowe said earlier Wednesday.
Arkema manufactures organic peroxides, a family of compounds used for making a variety of products including pharmaceuticals and construction materials.
“As the temperature rises, the natural state of these materials will decompose. A white smoke will result, and that will catch fire,” Smith said. “So the fire is imminent. The question is when.”
Harvey struck Southeast Texas last week, slamming into the coast as a Category 4 hurricane, then weakening to a tropical storm that dumped record amounts of rain on the state, in particular the Houston area. The storm was downgraded to a tropical depression late Wednesday.
The company shut down the Crosby site before Harvey made landfall last week, but a crew of 11 had stayed behind. That group was removed and residents living within a 1.5-mile (2.4-kilometer) radius were told to evacuate Tuesday after the plant lost power.
Harris County Fire Marshal spokeswoman Rachel Moreno said late Wednesday that the 1.5-mile radius was developed in consultation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other subject-matter experts.
“The facility is surrounded by water right now so we don’t anticipate the fire going anywhere,” Moreno said.
The plant falls along a stretch near Houston that features one of the largest concentrations of refineries, pipelines and chemical plants in the country.
Arkema was required to develop and submit a risk management plan to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, because it has large amounts of sulfur dioxide, a toxic chemical, and methylpropene, a flammable gas. The plans are supposed to detail the effects of a potential release, evaluate worst-case scenarios and explain a company’s response.
In its most recently available submission from 2014, Arkema said potentially 1.1 million residents could be impacted over a distance of 23 miles (37 kilometers) in a worse case, according to information compiled by a nonprofit group and posted on a website hosted by the Houston Chronicle.
But, Arkema added, it was using “multiple layers of preventative and mitigation measures” at the plant, including steps to reduce the amount of substances released, and that made the worst case “very unlikely.”
Daryl Roberts, the company’s vice president of manufacturing, technology and regulatory services in the Americas, did not dispute that worst-case scenario but said that assumed all the controls in place failed and strong winds blew directly toward Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city.
“We have not modeled this exact scenario but we are very comfortable with this 1.5-mile radius,” Roberts told the AP. He added that it mostly resembled less serious scenarios that would affect a half-mile radius and a few dozen people.
Roberts said the vessels containing the organic peroxide are equipped with controls to slow the release of chemicals. He said the chemicals will quickly vaporize because of the water, reducing the size and scope of the fire.
What a gawdawful mess.
What a gawdawful time for Don the Con to be talking about knocking $1Bn or so off of disaster relief.
I feel so for all those folks who are stuck with no flood insurance and nothing else to fall back on. Can’t imagine being in that situation (and hope I never have to find out). The millionaires always come out okay, it’s the little people who are barely scraping by who may never recover, financially or healthwise, from this mess.
So unfair.
Yes.
And what’s really awful to contemplate over the long term is that the people who live from Houston eastward to Lake Charles are pretty much working-class at most who have little political power on their own and whose area’s economy are heavily dependent on the petrochemical industry–which historically has done only the bare minimum to comply with regulations.
FEMA will be in that area for years, yes. But the effects on infrastructure, the economy, just may last for more than a generation, and (given prior history) probably not in good ways–unless government “encourages” these plants to build better.
From the Houston Chronicle:
“It would be surprising if Arkema had not considered a scenario like this, said Sam Mannan of Texas A&M University’s Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center. Typically, companies can quench organic peroxides in situations like this by combining them with another chemical, eliminating the danger.
“You’ll lose the feedstock, but it’s safer than letting it go into runaway mode,” Mannan said.
The plant has been shut down since Friday in anticipation of the storm.
The Arkema facility was among the Houston-area sites with the highest potential for harm in an incident, according to a 2016 analysis by the O’Connor Process Safety Center and the Houston Chronicle. That analysis factored risks based on the amount and type of dangerous chemicals on site and their proximity to the public.”
Arkema is saying the explosions were inevitable - nothing could be done to stop them since the cooling system was knocked out. However, there are compounds that can be put on these peroxides to keep them from becoming volatile and exploding if they become too warm, thus eliminating the explosion hazard to life and property in the surrounding area, as well as danger from fumes. The thing is, if you use the compound, it makes the peroxides unusable for product and not sell-able.
Profits over safety. And how’s that working out for ya now, Arkema. Your product is blown up, your factory and equipment all damaged by the explosions, life and property were in danger, people had to be evacuated from an already unbelievable flooding situation to escape the explosion hazard, and you still look like an uncaring, unsafe, profit-over-life, lying corporation. I think so-called president Trump has some big tax cuts for you.
This was covered on the Maddow Show last night, they basically said it was a matter of when, not if this plant would explode. The biggest debate was over the size and type of explosion.
I’m guessing that they company didn’t want to use the safest counter measures because it destroyed their stock/supplies, instead they relied on refrigeration units which failed. Damn shame but, not surprising if there’s no Government regulations to make sure businesses act in the best interest of society, businesses will always default to the most profitable option.
A fresh round of Tax cuts will straighten this all out.