Blast Rips Texas City

As reported in the Houston Chronicle,
March 24, 2005
By Kevin Moran, Dina Cappiello, Steve Mcvicker, Zeke Minaya, Rosanna Ruiz, Chunhua Zen Zheng, Ruth Rendon, Melanie Markley, Lynn J. Cook, Eric Hanson, Robert Crowe, Roma Khanna, Staff

Texas City - At least 14 are killed/casualties with more than 100 injured, the toll could climb. It's the BP refinery's second fatal occurrence in a year. Shocked residents in a state of disbelief

A fiery explosion at one of the nation's largest oil refineries killed at least 14 people Wednesday and injured more than 100 others in the deadliest industrial accident in the Houston area in nearly 15 years.  

 "There are still some people not accounted for," BP plant manager Don Parus said Wednesday night. The blast was the second fatal accident to occur at the sprawling 1,200-acre BP complex off Texas 146 in the last year. The cause has not been determined. There was no initial indication of dangerous levels of pollution from the blaze.

Late Wednesday night, BP officials were still working at the site with members of the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office, searching for additional possible victims. Some of the injured were being treated at University of Texas Medical Branch. Other victims were sent to Mainland Medical Center in Texas City, Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston and Clear Lake Regional Medical Center.

Dixie Walker was waiting outside Mainland Medical Center for news of his nephew Steven Walker, a contract worker for BP. He said that the blast blew off his nephew's uniform. "He was sitting there in his boots and underwear when the rescue team found him," said Walker, himself a retired BP maintenance supervisor.

The fire began at 1:20 p.m. in the isomerization unit, which produces components used to raise the octane content of gasoline, said Hugh Depland, BP's general manager for public affairs.

Nearby homes shaken. The blast shattered windows, shook nearby buildings and homes and released plumes of black smoke that could be seen from Galveston to Clear Lake. Crews worked to extinguish the blaze as rescuers sifted the rubble and ambulances carried victims from the site. The fire was extinguished at 3:22 p.m., Parus said.

Depland said while the unit affected was shut down, the rest of the refinery was running normally. "The area which had the explosion and fire is shut in, but the vast majority of the facility is up and running," Depland said.

Fearing the possibility of sabotage, the FBI dispatched personnel to the refinery. However, according to FBI spokesman Al Tribble, the agency's personnel were quickly recalled. "We've been on top of it," said Tribble. "But plant personnel have told us that there's nothing criminal, and nothing terrorist-related. So, we're actually pulling out."

Roads were closed at the plant entrances on Texas 146 and FM 1765. The Houston Ship Channel was briefly closed before reopening. When the explosion happened, Charles Mantell, 63, an electrical engineer, and his wife Judith, a social worker, were standing in the front yard of their home on Tiki Island, which faces the chemical plant about five miles across Galveston Bay. Judith Mantell, 62, described the explosion as a short, sharp boom that shook her home, rattled her windows and skipped her truck a couple of inches across the ground. "It was unbelievable, the flames shot more than 70 feet into the air," she said. "It's nothing but chemical plants over there, but this is the first time we've ever seen something like this."

Mike Martin, a 47-year resident of Texas City who was awakened by the blast, said it sounded like "a sonic boom." "It shook the pictures bad enough to where it knocked them off the wall."

Brian Rutherford, a public health planner with the Galveston County Health District , said the primary chemical of concern to health officials was naphtha, a solvent that can release carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide when burned and can contain benzene, a carcinogen. If inhaled, naphtha can cause dizziness, nausea and headaches. It also can cause skin and eye irritation, according to industrial Material Safety Data Sheets.

State agency monitoring air
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state's environmental agency, said that officials were checking on possible exposure to nitrogen oxides, benzene and volatile organic compounds. TCEQ monitors were taking a 24-hour sample of the air near the plant when the explosion occurred, said Adria Dawidczik, a TCEQ spokeswoman.
However, a nearby monitor that analyzes air for pollutants continuously and others on the plant's fence registered no pollution Wednesday, partly because the winds were blowing south, she said. Texas City residents were initially told to stay indoors, but emergency management officials lifted the order about two hours later, when the fire was put out.

Rutherford said the plume of smoke was as high as 3,000 to 4,000 feet before wind carried it out to Galveston Bay. Environmental officials with the TCEQ and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were en route to Texas City late Wednesday to take more air quality samples.

Investigators on the way.  A special team of federal investigators was on its way to Texas City from Washington, D.C., to conduct a preliminary probe of the explosion, said Daniel Horowitz, director of public affairs for the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, or CSB.

Horowitz said the seven-member team will do an initial assessment of the incident to determine if a full investigation is warranted.  "The immediate priority when they get there is going to be to develop a list of eyewitnesses, to determine what chemicals were present at the facility and what kind of processes were under way at the time of the accident," he said. The CSB was in the Houston area late last year to conduct an investigation of the explosion at the Marcus Oil and Chemical plant on Dec. 3. That probe is still under way. The CSB determines the causes of accidents but does not issue fines or penalties.

The BP plant in Texas City has been the site of previous accidents.

• On March 4, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined BP North America Inc. $109,500 for safety violations following a Sept. 2, 2004, accident that killed two Texas City workers. The workers were burned when high-pressure, superheated water was released from a valve at the facility.
• Last year, BP was fined $63,000 by OSHA for 14 violations following a March 30 incident in which a pipe ruptured on a furnace, releasing flammable vapors that ignited a fire that sparked a series of explosions. No one was injured.
• In August 2000, a fire erupted in a coker unit at the plant, then known as BP Amoco oil refinery. About 20 workers escaped without injury. BP's Texas City plant is a sprawling industrial complex with 30 refinery units that stretches across 1,200 acres. The plant processes 460,000 barrels of crude oil every day and produces 3 percent of the U.S. gasoline supply. It employs close to 2,000 people.

Wednesday's explosion was the deadliest in the Houston area since 1990, when an explosion killed 17 people at the Arco Chemical Co. in Channelview.

Fatal Explosions
Here's a review of some of the worst explosions in Texas during the past 50 years.

• April 7, 1992: Twenty injured, 1 dead from gas pipeline explosion in Brenham. Two died later that month, one April 10 and one April 12.
• July 5, 1990: Seventeen die in an explosion at the Arco Chemical Co. plant in Channelview.
• Oct. 23, 1989: An explosion at the Phillips Petroleum Co. plastics plant in the Houston Ship Channel killed 23 and injured 130.
• Oct. 13, 1981: Two killed when the Warren Petroleum plant at Mont Belvieu exploded. An additional 150 workers reached safety only minutes before the facility, owned by Chevron U.S.A. ignited in a ball of flame.
• Dec. 27, 1977: Six workers were killed in an explosion of a Dow Chemical Co. polyethylene plant in Freeport.
• Feb. 22, 1976: An explosion at the Farmer's Export Co. grain elevator on the Galveston docks killed 18 workers. Grain dust, ignited by a spark, caused a flash fire.
• Nov, 8, 1959: The tanker Amoco Virginia exploded and burned while docked at the Hess Terminal on the ship channel. Eight people were killed.

For More Information Contact:
Brian Rutherford
Acting Public Information Officer
Galveston County Health District
(409) 938-2275
brutherford@gchd.org

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