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From: DCHAS Secretary <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (17 articles)
Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2017 07:42:58 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: E402D5FF-A1CD-4076-AAE8-06137950941F**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, September 4, 2017 at 7:42:48 AM
A membership benefit of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas
Table of Contents (17 articles)
FOR YEARS, CHEMICAL INDUSTRY HAS PRESSURED GOVERNMENT TO DEFUND KEY CHEMICAL INCIDENT DATABASE
Tags: industrial, follow-up, environmental
HOUSTON BRACES FOR MORE FLOODING, CHEMICAL PLANT BURNS ANEW
Tags: us_TX, industrial, fire, response, other_chemical
CONSUMER GROUP SUES USDA OVER BIOTECH LABELING
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
TOUCHING THERMAL-PAPER RECEIPTS COULD EXTEND BPA RETENTION IN THE BODY
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
TEFLON TOWN: PART 1: A SPECIAL VTDIGGER INVESTIGATION
Tags: us_VT, industrial, follow-up, environmental, paints
MELBOURNE POLICE INVESTIGATING POSSIBLE ARSON ATTEMPT AT FLORIDA TECH
Tags: us_FL, laboratory, discovery, response, flammables, waste
6 HOSPITALIZED AFTER GATES POST OFFICE EVACUATED FOR NAIL POLISH REMOVER LEAK
Tags: us_NY, public, release, injury, other_chemical
FIRE DESTROYS LIVINGSTON HARDWARE STORE
Tags: us_TN, public, fire, response, ammunition, solvenr
CHEMICAL SPILL CLOSES HIGHWAY IN WINNEBAGO CO. ON FRIDAY
Tags: us_WI, transportation, release, response, sodium_hydroxide
‰??JOINT INSPECTION OF INDUSTRIES CAN SAVE LIVES, CLEAN UP LOCAL RIVERS‰??
Tags: India, industrial, discovery, environmental
WHILE LOBBYING AGAINST SAFETY RULES, ARKEMA WARNED ITS INVESTORS OF CHEMICAL STORAGE EXPLOSION RISKS
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
KTIV NEWS 4 SIOUX CITY IA: NEWS, WEATHER AND SPORTS
Tags: us_IA, industrial, release, response, ammonia
NYPD COPS OVERCOME BY FUMES WHILE TRYING TO ARREST DISTURBED MAN
Tags: us_NY, public, release, injury, clandestine_lab
HOUSTON'S DAMAGED ARKEMA CHEMICAL PLANT RECENTLY LOBBIED AGAINST STRONGER CHEMICAL PLANT SAFETY RULES
Tags: us_TX, industrial, discovery, environmental
INTERACTIVE MAP SHOWS VOLATILE FACILITIES THREATENED BY HURRICANE HARVEY
Tags: us_TX, industrial, discovery, environmental
IN TEXAS CHEMICAL-PLANT FIRE, FAILURE OF BACKUP MEASURES RAISES NEW FEARS
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, injury, peroxide
SHOULD TEXAS RESIDENTS KNOW THE CHEMICALS THEY'RE BREATHING AFTER THE ARKEMA PLANT EXPLOSION?
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental, peroxide
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FOR YEARS, CHEMICAL INDUSTRY HAS PRESSURED GOVERNMENT TO DEFUND KEY CHEMICAL INCIDENT DATABASE
Tags: industrial, follow-up, environmental
As President Trump attempts to shut down a federal board that helps oversee chemical plant safety, a former top official from the panel says the unfolding crisis at a Houston plant could have been prevented had the plant owner's lobbying group not fought the board's work.
In 1998, when the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) was formed, Chief Operating Officer Phyllis Scalettar led the team in creating a comprehensive database of chemical incidents, relying on data from five different federal agencies. The CSB created the database ‰?? which was the first of its kind ‰?? because officials believed a central resource documenting all incident reports, especially relevant information on what caused the incidents, was vital for the board to fulfill its mandated duty: to investigate toxic chemical incidents and determine the causes of those incidents.
When the CSB published its one-of-a-kind report in February 1999, analyzing data from 600,000 chemical incidents over a decade, and presented it to Congress, the feedback was positive. But when the American Chemistry Council (ACC) got hold of the report, the group hurled accusations of bias at the nonpartisan CSB in an effort to discredit the report. An influential lobbying and campaign spending operation, the ACC successfully pressured Congress to withhold sufficient funding for the CSB, preventing it from updating and enhancing the crucial database.
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HOUSTON BRACES FOR MORE FLOODING, CHEMICAL PLANT BURNS ANEW
Tags: us_TX, industrial, fire, response, other_chemical
HOUSTON (AP) ‰?? Authorities launched a controlled burn Sunday at a chemical plant damaged by Harvey, sending small flames and gray smoke into the sky, and said the highly unstable compounds that had exploded earlier needed to be neutralized.
Officials said the ‰??proactive measures‰?? to ignite the six remaining trailers at the Arkema plant in Crosby, outside Houston, wouldn‰??t pose any additional risk to the community. People living within a mile and a half of the site are still evacuated.
Small flames burning in charred structures could be seen at the plant, with a limited amount of light gray smoke. John Rull, who lives close by, told the Houston Chronicle he heard four booms. He said the explosions were louder than one he heard Friday when two containers burned and that there was much more smoke.
Sam Mannan, a chemical safety expert at Texas A&M University, said the latest burn was emitting gray smoke, which indicated a more complete burn with fewer harmful chemicals remaining.
‰??There are ways to accelerate the process or create more efficient or complete burning,‰?? Mannan said.
---------------------------------------------
CONSUMER GROUP SUES USDA OVER BIOTECH LABELING
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
Food safety advocates filed a lawsuit on Aug. 25 against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, claiming the government failed to complete a study as required under a food labeling law enacted last year. The law is intended to provide consumers with information about whether foods contain genetically modified ingredients. Lawmakers agreed to allow manufacturers to use codes that can be read by a smartphone, such as QR codes, instead of including text on food labels. Congress required USDA to study consumer behavior related to these ‰??electronic and digital disclosures.‰?? USDA was supposed to complete the study and solicit comments from the public by July, but the agency has yet to do either. The study is considered important because it will determine whether digital disclosures provide accessible information to consumers. Food safety advocates argue that consumers deserve clear, on-package labeling. ‰??Allowing companies to hide genetically engineered ingredients behind a web!
site or QR code is discriminatory and unworkable,‰?? says George Kimbrell, legal director for the Center for Food Safety, the plaintiff in the lawsuit.
---------------------------------------------
TOUCHING THERMAL-PAPER RECEIPTS COULD EXTEND BPA RETENTION IN THE BODY
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
When people handle receipts printed on thermal paper containing the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA), the chemical could linger in the body for a week or more (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2017, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b03093). Jonathan W. Martin of Stockholm University and Jiaying Liu of the University of Alberta asked six male volunteers to handle paper containing isotopically labeled BPA for five minutes. The volunteers then put on nitrile gloves, wore them for two hours, removed them, and washed their hands with soap. Afterward, the researchers measured the labeled BPA and its metabolites in the volunteers‰?? urine regularly for two days and then once again a week later. Total BPA in the urine increased linearly over the first two days, and after a week, three of the volunteers still had BPA in their urine. In contrast, after the volunteers each ate a cookie containing labeled BPA, total BPA in their urine spiked within five hours and was fully cleared within a day. Ingeste!
d BPA is rapidly metabolized in the liver and quickly excreted, Martin says. But BPA absorbed through the skin is probably metabolized much less efficiently, which could lead to a longer and more toxic exposure.
---------------------------------------------
TEFLON TOWN: PART 1: A SPECIAL VTDIGGER INVESTIGATION
Tags: us_VT, industrial, follow-up, environmental, paints
NORTH BENNINGTON ‰?? ‰??The area within a 15-mile radius of Bennington may well be the Teflon glass coating capital of the world.‰??
That 1968 quote from the vice president of the newly formed Chemical Fabrics Corporation set the tone for a honeymoon period with the Bennington community that lasted more than 30 years.
There would be no industrial wastes from the new industry and fumes from the drying process would be odor free and non-toxic, a company official insisted in an interview with a Bennington Banner reporter in 1968.
‰??Absolutely no pollutants are given off by our operation,‰?? he would say.
That outsized confidence was borne out by the eventual success of the fledgling ChemFab firm located in this bucolic town in southwestern Vermont, adjacent to New York State and 10 miles north of the Massachusetts border.
ChemFab quickly became famous for Teflon-coated fiberglass fabrics used on sports stadium domes and other structures.
In retrospect, the effusive language officials used to describe the supposedly emission-free chemical plant is chilling.
That optimism was only justified if you weren‰??t aware ‰?? as we are today ‰?? of the widespread, environmental damage from PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) used in the production of the company‰??s revolutionary Teflon fabrics.
Perfluorooctanoic acid, which is highly toxic in very small concentrations, has since polluted soils and drinking water in Bennington. The Teflon byproduct has been found in other industrial sites in the United States and across the globe.
---------------------------------------------
MELBOURNE POLICE INVESTIGATING POSSIBLE ARSON ATTEMPT AT FLORIDA TECH
Tags: us_FL, laboratory, discovery, response, flammables, waste
An absorbent, kitty litter-like material may have saved a Florida Institute of Technology lab from fire in what police called an arson attempt last month.
Custodial staff found a bucket labeled "IPA waste" on Aug. 19 in a chemical storage room surrounded by various debris from the lab, including torn pieces of cardboard and a burned can of paint thinner.
IPA ‰?? isopropyl alcohol ‰?? is a "highly flammable" chemical that should be kept away from open flames and sparks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Nobody was injured; Melbourne Fire Department decided against alerting a fire inspector.
When officers arrived just after 1:30 a.m., after being called by custodial and security staff, there was a "strong smell of smoke" in the lab, according to a police report.
Inside the bucket, police and lab employees only found a much more innocuous substance: an absorbent material that police described as "kitty litter" in reports.
---------------------------------------------
6 HOSPITALIZED AFTER GATES POST OFFICE EVACUATED FOR NAIL POLISH REMOVER LEAK
Tags: us_NY, public, release, injury, other_chemical
A 12-ounce bottle of nail polish remover leaked from a package Saturday morning at the Westgate post office on Howard Road in Gates, causing the facility to be evacuated for several hours and sending six workers to a hospital.
Nail polish remover can be mailed, but it has to be packaged a certain way and properly identified, according to Karen Mazurkiewicz, spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service in western New York.
"We will contact that sender on that issue," she said.
By mid-afternoon, all the workers had been released from the hospital. Ten other workers had been treated by emergency medical crews at the scene.
"This is unfortunate, but it could have been worse," Mazurkiewicz said around midday. "In this case, luckily, it ended up OK. There is the potential for something more caustic and (more) damage."
---------------------------------------------
FIRE DESTROYS LIVINGSTON HARDWARE STORE
Tags: us_TN, public, fire, response, ammunition, solvenr
Firefighters from Cookeville and Putnam County joined nearly two dozen other departments from around the region to assist the Livingston Fire Department Friday afternoon in battling a massive blaze that destroyed the Winningham True Value hardware store and an adjacent warehouse on West Main Street.
Livingston Fire Chief Rocky Dial said a total of 131 personnel responded to fight the fire, which started in the warehouse at about noon Friday and spread to the store itself.
"It's my understanding that one of the employees came and told Mr. Winningham that they had a fire in the back area of the warehouse," Dial said. "He went back with a fire extinguisher, but when he got back there the fire was too big for him to try and do anything with, so he called for help."
Dial said attempts to control the blaze were hampered as firefighters had to deal with ammunition that exploded as the flames reached it.
"Those guys that were operating there around the ammunition, we pulled them back to what we felt was a safe distance," he said.
In addition, several nearby businesses were evacuated because of concerns about the paint, paint thinner and other chemical fumes that were being put off by the fire.
"We stayed on the scene about seven hours actually fighting the fire," Dial said. "Then we were there on and off checking for hotspots two or three times overnight (Friday). When we got to looking Saturday morning, a lot of the metal roofing had holes all in it from where the ammunition had went off."
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL SPILL CLOSES HIGHWAY IN WINNEBAGO CO. ON FRIDAY
Tags: us_WI, transportation, release, response, sodium_hydroxide
WINNEBAGO CO. Wis. (WBAY) -- A chemical spill is to blame for an hours long road closure in Winnebago County on Friday.
According to the Winnebago County Sheriff's office, 250 gallons of sodium hydroxide fell off of a truck on Highway 44 near the intersection of Claireville Road.
The spill was reported by a passerby around 2:40 p.m. Friday.
Authorities say Highway 44 between Claireville Road and Highway 91 were closed for about 10 and a half hours while crews cleaned up the spill.
The Hazmat team and an environmental services company were called to help clean up the spill.
---------------------------------------------
‰??JOINT INSPECTION OF INDUSTRIES CAN SAVE LIVES, CLEAN UP LOCAL RIVERS‰??
Tags: India, industrial, discovery, environmental
Navi Mumbai: City based activists have welcomed a new state government resolution (GR) to carry out joint inspections of industries.
The inspections will cover various industrial aspects such as infrastructure, safety, labour rights and environmental or chemical pollution.
The GR was issued earlier this week to integrate various wings of labour department and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to develop a Central Inspection System (CIS) for the industries.
As per the GR issued by the industry, energy and labour department, various government departments as well as MPCB were independently carrying out inspection of business and compliance earlier. Integration of these systems is necessary, stated the GR.
So the state government is planning to develop CIS for all the labour legislation enforcing wings of the labour department, namely, commissioner of labour, director of industrial safety and health, commissioner of Maharashtra Labour Welfare Board (MLWB) and the inspection wing of MPCB.
"We hope that the new move will help curb chemical pollution. We have recently seen at the Taloja industrial area how some of the local stray dogs turned blue in colour because of the chemical pollution at the site. I had visited the area and observed how untreated industrial waste is going into the Kasadi river, causing a stink which can affect animals as well as humans," said activist Arati Chauhan of Harit Navi Mumbai group.
---------------------------------------------
WHILE LOBBYING AGAINST SAFETY RULES, ARKEMA WARNED ITS INVESTORS OF CHEMICAL STORAGE EXPLOSION RISKS
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
Arkema, the specialty chemicals company whose chemical storage facility in Crosby, Texas, exploded Thursday morning and is currently spewing noxious smoke near Houston, warned its investors earlier this year about the dangers of possible explosions and public health risks from the chemicals it stores. At the same time, the French-based company lobbied the U.S. Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency to delay implementing new chemical facilities safety rules, as International Business Times previously reported. Two more chemical storage trailers exploded Friday evening and more explosions from the remaining trailers are expected in the coming days.
‰??The Group‰??s facilities may be subject to risks of accidents, fires, explosions and pollution due to the very nature of their operations and to the level of hazard, toxicity or flammability of certain raw materials,‰?? Arkema wrote to investors in March, in the company‰??s annual report for 2016.
Arkema‰??s backup generators failed on Thursday, which meant that volatile chemicals were unable to be stored cooly enough, causing them to burn and explode. Speaking to the Houston Chronicle, an Arkema safety official declined to say whether its backup generators were elevated, a common-sense precaution in case of flooding. However, the company was well aware of the potential dangers of floods at its plants, as it warned its investors that ‰??exceptional flooding‰?? could lead to the shutdown of its facilities.
Furthermore, Arkema‰??s 2014 Risk Management Plan for the Crosby facility specifically noted the risk of equipment failure due to flooding. Facilities regulated as a ‰??Program 3‰?? facility by the EPA, such as the one in Crosby, are required to create and submit Risk Management Plans. The 2014 plan is the latest filed with the EPA. However, those documents are not publicly accessible online and can only be viewed by visiting federal reading rooms in person. The watchdog group Environmental Defense Fund did so on Thursday, finding that a hazard process analysis filed by Arkema specifically for the Crosby facility ‰??identified concerns, including: equipment failure; loss of cooling, heating, electricity; floods (flood plain); hurricane; other major failure identified: power failure or power surge.‰??
---------------------------------------------
KTIV NEWS 4 SIOUX CITY IA: NEWS, WEATHER AND SPORTS
Tags: us_IA, industrial, release, response, ammonia
TIPTON, Iowa (KWWL) -
A KTIV's sister station said a KWWL crew in Tipton says the anhydrous leak has been contained and people are being told they can go outdoors again.
*****************************************
UPDATE: Cedar County Emergency Management says the entire city of Tipton is being asked to stay indoors until noon.
There was a training exercise at Cedar County Coop this morning.
Something went wrong and 1,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia leaked.
Students are being moved out of the high school right now to another building away from the coop.
Emergency management says the wind is blowing the chemical into the middle of town so they want everyone to stay indoors for now.
They hope everything dissipates by noon and they can give the all clear.
Highway 130 east of Tipton, which had been closed this morning after the leak, has reopened.
According to the CDC, symptoms of anhydrous ammonia exposure include: eye, nose, and throat irritation, breathing difficulty, wheezing, or chest pain, burns, blisters and frostbite.
---------------------------------------------
NYPD COPS OVERCOME BY FUMES WHILE TRYING TO ARREST DISTURBED MAN
Tags: us_NY, public, release, injury, clandestine_lab
A toxic suspect covered in a noxious mix of drugs gave off fumes that were so overwhelming that it sent eight cops to the hospital on Friday.
They inhaled the potentially deadly mix of heroin and fentanyl while trying to apprehend the emotionally disturbed suspect in Queens, police said.
The officers were called to a Saunders St. apartment near 63rd Drive in Rego Park about 2 a.m. on a report of a noise complaint.
By the time they arrived, Onix Torrellas, 37, had run into his apartment and locked the door.
The sergeant and seven officers finally unlocked the door and found Torrellas unconscious inside.
---------------------------------------------
HOUSTON'S DAMAGED ARKEMA CHEMICAL PLANT RECENTLY LOBBIED AGAINST STRONGER CHEMICAL PLANT SAFETY RULES
Tags: us_TX, industrial, discovery, environmental
Black smoke from ignited refrigerated-truck containers of volatile organic peroxides at Arkema's chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, early Thursday morning sent 16 Harris County sheriff's deputies to the hospital with respiratory issues, but none of the deputies are expected to have permanent damage and Arkema and the county fire marshal said they believe the smoke isn't toxic with limited exposure. Arkema also said the remaining eight tractors full of organic peroxides will probably combust, and the sheriff's office is enforcing the 1.5 mile-radius evacuation zone in the town, 25 miles northeast of Houston.
The Arkema chemical fires are only part of the hazardous combination of floodwater and 230 chemical plants, 33 oil refineries, and hundreds of miles of pipelines carrying dangerous materials in and around Houston, The Associated Press reports, citing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Sierra Club. Many of those facilities continue to report spills and leaks from Tropical Storm Harvey. The Houston area is no stranger to chemical plant explosions, and some residents in Crosby talk about environmental disasters "as Californians might discuss the inevitability of the next earthquake," The Washington Post reports. Others argue that unlike the hurricane, plant disasters are avoidable, as in this Thursday night report from CBS 11 News Dallas-Fort Worth:
Those latter residents may be right. Federal regulations governing chemical plant safety haven't been updated since 1992, and experts say that the decision to upgrade plants to the latest safety technology are mostly voluntary. After a deadly fertilizer-plant explosion in West, Texas, in 2013, the Obama administration came up with new rules to strengthen regulations and, as the EPA explained, "seek to improve chemical process safety, assist local emergency authorities in planning for and responding to accidents, and improve public awareness of chemical hazards at regulated source."
The rules were set to take effect March 14. President Trump's EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, put them on hold for two years. Arkema, a unit of French oil giant Total, specifically lobbied Pruitt and the EPA to block the rules, the International Business Times reports, arguing they would be too onerous and expensive. Peter Weber
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INTERACTIVE MAP SHOWS VOLATILE FACILITIES THREATENED BY HURRICANE HARVEY
Tags: us_TX, industrial, discovery, environmental
The Sierra Club released an interactive digital map Thursday detailing 449 plants, refineries and facilities that are posing heightened threats to the 25 counties most affected by Harvey.
For decades, Houston has been home to an immense concentration of chemical and plastics plants, oil and gas refineries, Superfund sites, fossil fuel plants, and wastewater discharge treatment plants among others, threatening the surrounding communities. The overwhelming majority of these facilities were constructed in communities of color, only adding to the burden felt from this disaster. Now, in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, the threat posed by these facilities has been magnified.
This site will be updated as we learn of actual reported and confirmed instances of releases, spills or accidents.
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IN TEXAS CHEMICAL-PLANT FIRE, FAILURE OF BACKUP MEASURES RAISES NEW FEARS
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, injury, peroxide
When the hurricane blew in, workers at the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Tex., faced the problem of keeping the plant‰??s volatile chemicals cold. The plant had 19.5 tons of organic peroxides of various strengths, all of them requiring refrigeration to prevent ignition.
But the power went out, and then the floodwaters came and knocked out the plant‰??s generators. A liquid nitrogen system faltered. In a last-ditch move, the workers transferred the chemicals to nine huge refrigerated trucks, each with its own generator, and moved the vehicles to a remote section of the plant.
That was doomed to fail, too. Six feet of water swamped the trucks, and the final 11 workers gave up. At 2 a.m. Tuesday, they called for a water evacuation and left the plant to its fate.
Early Thursday, two loud pops signaled an explosive combustion in one of the trucks, and a black plume of smoke spread from the plant, sending 15 police officers and paramedics to the hospital. All eight remaining vehicles are now likely to burn, said Robert W. Royall Jr., assistant chief of emergency operations for the Harris County Fire Marshal‰??s Office.
---------------------------------------------
SHOULD TEXAS RESIDENTS KNOW THE CHEMICALS THEY'RE BREATHING AFTER THE ARKEMA PLANT EXPLOSION?
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental, peroxide
This comes as a chemical plant about 25 miles northeast of Houston, in Crosby, that‰??s swamped by about six feet of water, was rocked by two explosions early Thursday morning that sent thick black smoke into the air. The facility produces highly volatile chemicals known as organic peroxides, and at least 10 sheriff‰??s deputies went to the hospital after inhaling fumes. Officials had already evacuated residents within a one-and-a-half-mile radius of the plant in Crosby after it lost primary and backup power to its coolant system. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez insisted in an early-morning press conference that the plant had not exploded, describing the event as a "pop" followed by smoke. But Federal Emergency Management Agency head‰??that‰??s FEMA head‰??Brock Long said a plume of chemicals leaking from the plant is "incredibly dangerous."
BROCK LONG: So, the bottom line is, is that we do what‰??s called plume modeling, and that‰??s what we base a lot of the evacuations on. And so, by all means, yes, the plume is incredibly dangerous.
AMY GOODMAN: This comes as the company, Arkema, has refused to state precisely which chemicals are produced or how many of them are still on site at the time of the explosions. During a call with reporters, Arkema CEO Richard Rowe said the company expected the chemicals on site to catch fire or explode, and admitted it is a way to prevent a fire or potential‰??it has no way to prevent a fire or potential explosion near the plant. He was questioned by reporter Matt Dempsey with the Houston Chronicle.
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