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4 Day Fire at Houston Refinery Extinguished
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/houston-area-chemical-fire-expected-burn-days-n984686 [nbcnews.com]
The blaze at a site along the Houston Ship Channel in Deer Park, Texas, began Sunday when a leak from a tank containing volatile naphtha ignited and spread to others in the same complex, the company said. The tanks hold tens of thousands of barrels of products used to boost gasoline octane, make solvents and plastics.
The blaze has not disrupted nearby refineries or shipping at the country's busiest petrochemical port, authorities said. The Houston Ship Channel is home to nine U.S. oil refineries that process 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd), or 12 percent of the national total.
"There has been no affect on vessel traffic other than at the two terminals," said J.J. Plunkett, port agent at the Houston Pilots, whose members guide ships in and out of the channel. Ship access to docks at the ITC and Vopak terminals was restricted by the U.S. Coast Guard, he said.
Air emissions tests detected the presence of a volatile organic compound six miles away from the facility. Levels were below those considered hazardous, ITC said.
The cause of the dayslong chemical fire at a Deer Park plant remains under investigation as emergency crews douse what's left of the now-extinguished blaze and prepare for clean-up, company officials said Wednesday.
Fire crews extinguished the blaze at Intercontinental Terminals Co. about 3 a.m., almost four days after it started on Sunday morning and which caused a plume of black smoke to linger over the Houston area.
Firefighters are continuing to spray foam on the 15 tanks in the affected area to prevent the blaze from sparking again and steam and smoke may still be visible from the area. Eleven of the tanks, many containing gasoline components, were affected by fire.
"Reignition is possible, but with every passing hour, our risk of that is reduced," ITC spokeswoman Alice Richardson said Wednesday. "Our goal is to be good neighbors — good neighbors to our industry, good neighbors to our community. We're sorry for what has happened."
No serious injuries have been reported since the fire started at about 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Air quality levels were still at moderate levels Wednesday morning, according to AirNow.gov.
The difference-maker between Tuesday morning — when officials walked back earlier estimates and declined to say when the fire would be snuffed out — was an offensive approach to the firefighting, Richardson said.
"They continued that proactive attack, tank by tank, and it was successful," she said.
It's unknown how full the 11 damaged tanks were prior to the fire, and how full they are now. The tank that sparked the incident — 80-8, a tank of naphtha in the middle of the 15-tank block — was the fullest, with 72,000 barrels. Another had 60,000 barrels, and several others were well below that, said David Wascome, vice president of operations at ITC.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/03/20/chem-m20.html [wsws.org]
Most of the chemicals in the fire are used to produce gasoline, and short-term side effects of exposure at 100 ppm can cause unpleasant side effects. Two of the tanks burning contain a gasoline blend, one tank contains naphtha, another xylene, and one has pyrolysis gasoline. Naphtha can cause irritation to the eyes and the respiratory system, it affects the central nervous system and is harmful and even fatal if it is swallowed. Xylene causes skin irritation and may also be fatal if it is swallowed or enters the airway.
State regulators have said the plume of smoke poses no immediate health risks. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the state’s environmental regulatory agency, said in a statement Monday afternoon that there is no need to be concerned about health impacts. According to officials, favorable weather has lifted the smoke well about ground level, around 6,000 feet, posing little threat to residents in the area.
Dry and clear conditions are helping the particles of the chemicals dissipate above the ground, according to earlier reports in the Houston Chronicle. Additionally, warmer afternoon temperatures are causing the plume to stay above 1,000 feet, where people would be at serious risk for smoke or soot inhalation, according to National Weather Service meteorologists.
However, environmental groups have said that neither the TCEQ nor ITC have released enough data to back up claims that there’s no immediate risk to human health.
Experts say even if the air quality is good now, any sudden change in weather could quickly reverse the situation.
“If we get a thunderstorm or something like that, which mixes the atmosphere, then all that junk is going to come to the surface,” Robert Talbot, a professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of Houston, told CBS News.
ITC has a history of environmental violations, having paid more than $200,000 in fines over the past decade. The TCEQ’s databases show the agency has fined the company at least 10 times since 2002, and at least twice last year, for various pollution-related incidents.
The company also has been in “significant” noncompliance with the federal Clean Water Act for 9 of the last 12 quarters, according to an EPA enforcement database. This includes an incident last year in which ITC released more than 10 times the allowable limit of cyanide into the San Jacinto River basin from April through June.
