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From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (8 articles)
Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2017 07:42:50 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: A72C6CC8-FFC0-453B-B896-DEDDE53CCA6E**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, November 6, 2017 at 7:42:39 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 (8 articles)
STERILIZATION CHEMICAL SPILLED IN ROOM AT BEN TAUB HOSPITAL
Tags: us_TX, public, release, response, other_chemical, cleaner
AS NORMALCY RESUMES AFTER FIRE, PARKERSBURG RESIDENTS LEFT WITH QUESTIONS
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, response, other_chemical
3M SAYS IT WARNED WOLVERINE ABOUT SCOTCHGARD CHEMICALS NEARLY 20 YEARS AGO
Tags: us_MI, public, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
EXXONMOBIL SETTLES U.S. AIR POLLUTION ENFORCEMENT CASE
Tags: us_TX, industrial, discovery, environmental, waste, illegal
OFFICIALS READY TO DISCUSS EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION IMPROVEMENTS IN WAKE OF EASTMAN EXPLOSION
Tags: us_TN, public, follow-up, environmental
EPA ISSUES ADVISORY FOR HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE
Tags: us_ca, public, discovery, follow-up, environmental
CFPUA ASKS STATE FOR MORE CHEMOURS CHEMICAL DATA
Tags: us_nc, public, discovery, follow-up, enviromental
HOUSE FIRE PULLS CREW FROM CHEMICAL TANKER CRASH
Tags: us_ia, transportation, release, response, acid
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STERILIZATION CHEMICAL SPILLED IN ROOM AT BEN TAUB HOSPITAL
Tags: us_TX, public, release, response, other_chemical, cleaner
HOUSTON - A chemical spill at Ben Taub Hospital disrupted the emergency room operations for several hours Sunday.
Houston police, firefighters and hazmat personnel were called to 1504 Taub Loop around 9 a.m. Sunday.
Officials with the Houston Fire Department said the spill was small, less than one gallon, and it was contained to a single room.
The chemical was identified as MINNCARE Cold Sterilant.
The hospital staff said that the spill occurred around 6:00 a.m. and one employee was splashed by the product, officials said.
That employee was decontaminated per hospital procedure, treated in the emergency room and released.
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AS NORMALCY RESUMES AFTER FIRE, PARKERSBURG RESIDENTS LEFT WITH QUESTIONS
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, response, other_chemical
PARKERSBURG ‰?? An untouched warehouse stood between massive flames, a fuel tank and nearby homes when the old Ames plant caught fire Oct. 21.
Chris Gregory lives adjacent to the old tool plant. Rumors of an evacuation came and went, but it made no difference to Gregory. Ten dogs, 40 chickens and a family kept her tied to the house. She was especially worried about the nearby fuel tank.
‰??I figured, ‰??Well, if it hits that, we‰??re out of here ‰?? we‰??re blown up,‰??‰?? she said.
A black plume of smoke alerted Gregory‰??s family to the nearby fire. She said birds took refuge in trees and bushes as flames consumed the 420,000 square foot factory in about two hours.
‰??It was so black, like a bomb or something went off,‰?? she said.
Her husband, Curtis Goff, said tanks exploded out of the factory and into a nearby field. As firefighters held off the approaching fire, water traveled down the hill and then pooled in Goff‰??s lawn.
Family members are worried about how their health might be affected in the future. Gregory said she thinks it could be years before the full consequences are known.
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3M SAYS IT WARNED WOLVERINE ABOUT SCOTCHGARD CHEMICALS NEARLY 20 YEARS AGO
Tags: us_MI, public, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, MICH. - 3M, which made the Scotchgard product Wolverine Worldwide used to waterproof its shoes, said it warned Wolverine nearly 20 years ago about the PFOS chemical that have polluted Plainfield Township wells near the shoemaker's old dumpsite.
The Minnesota-based conglomerate sent WZZM 13 a letter, which was sent to Wolverine in 1999, mentioning a meeting between the two companies regarding the PFOS chemical and its environmental effects.
3M released this statement in response to Wolverine's handling of the contamination issue:
3M bears no responsibility for the environmental practices of Wolverine,' said William A. Brewer III, partner at Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors and counsel to 3M. 'We are surprised to see that Wolverine claims it was unaware of the fact that PFOS was used at its former tannery and, apparently, that it was unaware of 3M‰??s voluntary decision to phase out of the chemistries in question. The record reflects otherwise.‰??
In the letter, 3M mentions it was considering phasing out PFOS from Scotchgard. The company announced the decision in May 2000 and completed the phaseout in 2002.
Wolverine responded to 3M, saying:
Wolverine has known and it was widely publicized that 3M‰??s Scotchgard contained [PFOS] and we relied on 3M‰??s representations to us, the EPA, and the public that it had no adverse effects on the environment or human health. We‰??ve never intended to infer anything to the contrary."
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EXXONMOBIL SETTLES U.S. AIR POLLUTION ENFORCEMENT CASE
Tags: us_TX, industrial, discovery, environmental, waste, illegal
ExxonMobil will spend $300 million to reduce air emissions from four olefin plants and four polyethylene facilities and pay a $2.5 million fine to settle allegations that it violated U.S. federal air pollution regulations. ExxonMobil had modified the facilities and increased their emissions without getting required air pollution permits, says Patrick Traylor, Environmental Protection Agency deputy assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance. The settlement, announced on Oct. 31, requires the company to curb air pollution emitted from inefficient combustion of waste gases within flares at the plants. Traylor says that when fully implemented by 2020, the upgrades at the eight plants will prevent emissions of about 6,400 metric tons per year of volatile organic pollutants and 1,400 metric tons per year of hazardous air pollutants. The facilities are located in Texas in Baytown, Beaumont, and Mont Belvieu and in Baton Rouge, La. Under the settlement, ExxonMo!
bil will also spend $2.5 million on supplemental environmental projects, including planting trees in Baytown.
---------------------------------------------
OFFICIALS READY TO DISCUSS EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION IMPROVEMENTS IN WAKE OF EASTMAN EXPLOSION
Tags: us_TN, public, follow-up, environmental
KINGSPORT, Tenn. - Saturday will mark one month since the explosions at Eastman Chemical Company‰??s coal gassification plant in Kingsport. Officials in Kingsport and Sullivan County are now admitting that emergency communications with Eastman need to be improved.
Emergency advisory notifications and calls were not placed until almost two hours after the initial explosions. Those calls instructed people near Eastman to take shelter indoors and turn off ventilation systems. Sullivan County Emergency Management Agency Director Jim Bean said the delay was the result of a need for coordination between Eastman, Kingsport dispatch and Sullivan County dispatch.
‰??There was so much information going out,‰?? Bean said. ‰??We didn't want to contradict between the city and the county.‰??
In spite of officials‰?? attempts to avoid confusion, social media spread several false rumors about the explosions. Hunter Salyer, who works in Kingsport, said he saw about ten different stories about the explosion on social media before he heard what had really happened. He thinks that official communication should have been faster.
‰??I believe they need to get a little bit quicker on it,‰?? Salyer said. ‰??Get more serious about it.‰??
Others agreed that a two hour delay was unacceptable.
‰??That's not ok because that's a hazard,‰?? Bradley Skeens, a co-worker of Salyer, said. ‰??I mean, you know, that could've hurt a lot of people.‰??
Bean agrees that communications need to improve and the response time needs to be faster.
‰??There was definitely a delay in response,‰?? Bean said. ‰??Getting everyone together and trying to get a unified voice is something that needs to be done sooner, and I think everyone can admit that that needs to be done.‰??
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EPA ISSUES ADVISORY FOR HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE
Tags: us_ca, public, discovery, follow-up, environmental
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has collected more than 8,300 containers of household hazardous waste in Napa and Sonoma counties as part of a multi-agency response to the October Northern California fires, which killed dozens and destroyed more than 7,000 structures, most of them homes, in vast swaths of Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Lake and parts of Solano counties.
In a press release issued Thursday, Margot Perez-Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the federal agency‰??s San Francisco office, said the items, which range in size from small paint canisters to large chemical drums, have been transported to EPA staging areas in Windsor (in Sonoma County) and Yountville (in Napa County) before disposal at hazardous waste facilities.
In Solano County, affected residents should visit the following online link: www.solanocounty.com/depts/rm/planning/household_hazardous_waste.asp.
Household hazardous waste includes leftover household products that are unstable, corrosive or toxic. Products such as paints, cleaners, solvents, oils, batteries, herbicides and pesticides can contain hazardous ingredients and require special handling and disposal, Perez-Sullivan noted.
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CFPUA ASKS STATE FOR MORE CHEMOURS CHEMICAL DATA
Tags: us_nc, public, discovery, follow-up, enviromental
WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) -
Jim Flechtner, the executive director of the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, sent a letter to NC Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan on Thursday asking for all the data the department has on unregulated contaminants being discharged into the Cape Fear River from the Chemours Company's work site in Bladen County.
In CFPUA's Friday afternoon email update, the utility said an Oct. 24 press release by NCDEQ included a response from Chemours assuring the regulatory agency has stopped releasing fluorinated compounds into the river. CFPUA said it has reason to believe more data exists.
"Unfortunately, we have yet to receive data from DEQ on the quantity and identity of unregulated compounds being discharged from the Chemours site," the letter reads. "The data given to DEQ by Chemours would allow the researcher at UNC Wilmington to avoid spending their resources on identifying compounds already known to DEQ.
"It would also allow CFPUA to immediately include those compounds in our pilot testing program -- giving staff the opportunity to make decisions on treatment upgrades with the best, most comprehensive information available."
---------------------------------------------
HOUSE FIRE PULLS CREW FROM CHEMICAL TANKER CRASH
Tags: us_ia, transportation, release, response, acid
OTTUMWA ‰?? The Ottumwa Fire Department had a long, long day Thursday.
A semi-tanker filled with thousands of gallons of industrial acid rolled over on Highway 63. Almost immediately, it began leaking. About six hours into the 17-hour cleanup effort, a call came in: A house was on fire.
‰??Myself and three other guys at the rollover responded to the structure fire,‰?? Miller said. ‰??We could see the house from a mile-and-a-half away; it was fully engulfed.‰??
They were battling the blaze when it caught the neighboring house on fire. Now they were fighting two house fires ‰?? and a hazardous material spill.
This was a strange day, Miller acknowledged, the likes of which he hadn‰??t seen in more than 30 years as a firefighter ‰??not because there were three incidents at once. That‰??s not unheard of.
What was strange was that 11 of the Hazmat techs were out of town at a Hazmat convention in Ames. They‰??d left around 5:30 a.m. to get expert instruction on how better to respond to the unintended release of hazardous materials.
‰??It‰??s only one day a year,‰?? said Miller. ‰??We were at the annual Hazmat symposium. One of our guys won Hazmat Tech of the Year, but that‰??s not why we went: The classes are really, really good.‰??
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