Um, maybe we should be paying attention to this?
The Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, is going to explode any day now, the CEO of the organic-chemical company said Wednesday. On Tuesday, all of the plant’s workers were sent home, residents within 1.5 miles of the plant were evacuated, and a nearby stretch of highway was shut down after the plant was inundated with water from Hurricane Harvey and the subsequent flooding.
That’s not some clarion call from the EPA, It’s the head of the goddamn plant. Crosby is 24 miles from Houston.
The flooding brought about by Hurricane Harvey has inundated the Arkema plant with six feet of water. The situation there is not capable of being controlled.
CEO Richard Rowe told reporters that the plant has taken on six feet of water and there’s “no way to prevent” an explosion. He expects it to happen some time in the next six days, as the chemicals produced at the plant, which are typically refrigerated, rise in temperature. Rowe said the plant initially used generators to power the refrigeration system, but when those failed after the flood, the chemicals were moved to diesel-powered refrigerators. Now, the water has compromised those, too.
If there was any argument why we need the EPA (which Trump wants to abolish), and why a philosophy rooted in the “deregulation” of our environmental protections is a big problem, this would be it.
From CNBC it looks like the CEO is playing the part of...well, a chemical company CEO:
Rowe did not disclose the volume of chemicals on the site and said it was speculative to predict how much damage the plant could sustain. He said there could be an "intense fire" that would result in significant black smoke but would not pose any "long-term harm or impact."
ABC News and Crosby’s own Republican representative in Congress have a slightly different view:
Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, who represents the district that includes the chemical plant, called the situation "very dangerous."
"The worst-case scenario is that this chemical plant could explode," he told ABC News.
According to New York Magazine, the plant produces peroxides, used in the formulation of plastics and rubber products. An explosion would create a fireball of chemical pollution that would saturate the community of Crosby and its surrounding environs.
Its fortunate—and nothing more—that the peroxides produced by this plant are not known to be harmful in the long term (thankfully). At least that’s the prevailing view. But now that the “worst case scenario” of one chemical plant being destroyed by a natural disaster is a near certainty, is Trump’s EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt paying attention?
What do you think?
UPDATE: The plant has exploded.
From the BBC, some question about whether the release of chemicals is due to an “explosion” or whether they simply leaked out:
Chemicals have been released into the atmosphere from a flood-damaged plant near the storm-hit US city of Houston, local officials say.
Earlier, black smoke was seen issuing from the Arkema chemical plant at Crosby.
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Arkema said this was believed to have been caused by a "non-toxic irritant".
Harris County sheriff Ed Gonzales said the release was not believed to have been a result of an explosion, despite earlier reports of blasts.
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In an earlier statement, Arkema said: "At approximately 2am CDT [07:00 GMT], we were notified by the Harris County Emergency Operations Center of two explosions and black smoke coming from the Arkema Inc plant in Crosby, Texas.
"We want local residents to be aware that product is stored in multiple locations on the site, and a threat of additional explosion remains.