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From: DCHAS Membership Chair <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (16 articles)
Date: Mon, 13 May 2019 05:30:53 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: FC241D53-E39C-47CA-822F-BA82AF3EB118**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, May 13, 2019 at 5:30:37 AM
A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Connecting Chemistry and Safety at http://www.dchas.org
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas
Table of Contents (16 articles)
PROSECUTORS TO BE HIRED AFTER HOUSTON-AREA PLANT FIRES
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental, petroleum
CHEMICAL PLANT: 3 DIE AFTER INHALING TOXIC FUMES AT TARAPUR PLANT
Tags: India, industrial, release, death, unknown_chemical
OFFICIALS: HAZMAT CREW RESPONDS TO CHEMICAL SITUATION IN LONG BEACH ‰?? CBS NEW YORK
Tags: us_NY, laboratory, discovery, injury, drugs
HOUSTON SHIP CHANNEL REMAINS CLOSED AFTER TANKER COLLISION SPILLS GASOLINE
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, gasoline
HAZ-MAT INCIDENT AT YORK WATER PLANT SENDS 3 TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_ME, industrial, release, injury, water_treatment
ANHYDROUS AMMONIA SPILL UNDERSCORES SAFETY PUSH
Tags: us_IL, industrial, follow-up, environmental, ammonia
STUDENTS EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL AT WEST BOCA HIGH
Tags: us_FL, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
COAST GUARD, TCEQ RESPOND TO CHEMICAL SPILL AT HOUSTON SHIP CHANNEL
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, gasoline
IN PEABODY 35 YEARS AGO, 'IT SOUNDED LIKE AN ATOMIC BOMB'
Tags: us_MA, public, follow-up, environmental
CRITICS WARN CHLORPYRIFOS BAN WOULD SET DANGEROUS PRECEDENT
Tags: us_OR, public, discovery, environmental, ag_chems
CHINA TIGHTENS SCREWS ON SMALL CHEMICAL PRODUCERS
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, environmental
MEN INJURED IN TANKER EXPLOSION WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO SALT LAKE CITY
Tags: us_MT, transportation, explosion, injury, gasoline
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS REMOVED FROM SAN CARLOS HOME IDENTIFIED
Tags: us_CA, public, follow-up, environmental, radiation, waste
INEFFECTIVE MAINTENANCE, SAFETY MANAGEMENT LED TO BARGE EXPLOSION
Tags: us_DC, transportation, follow-up, death, flammables
COUNTY AUTHORITIES PROBE CHEMICAL LIQUID LEAK SCANDAL
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, environmental, waste
COMPANY LINKED TO VIC CHEMICAL STOCKPILES
Tags: Australia, industrial, discovery, response, illegal, waste
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PROSECUTORS TO BE HIRED AFTER HOUSTON-AREA PLANT FIRES
https://mayfieldrecorder.com/2019/05/12/prosecutors-to-be-hired-following-houston-area-plant-fires.html
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental, petroleum
Officials have approved the hiring of additional assistant district attorneys to prosecute environmental crimes following two big chemical plant fires that closed schools and leaked poisonous compounds.
Harris County commissioners on Tuesday authorized $850,000 to the district attorney‰??s office to employ four prosecutors who will concentrate on also two investigators environmental violations and two support personnel.
But Ogg‰??s request came before a March fire in Intercontinental Terminals Co. that triggered shelter-in-place warnings, and another fire in April at a KMCO plant in which a worker had been killed.
Ogg declared the ITC will probably likely be charged with five counts of water pollution.
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CHEMICAL PLANT: 3 DIE AFTER INHALING TOXIC FUMES AT TARAPUR PLANT
https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/civic/3-die-after-inhaling-toxic-fumes-at-tarapur-plant/articleshow/69299331.cms
Tags: India, industrial, release, death, unknown_chemical
One of the tanks reportedly developed a crack that led to a leak; gas may have had traces of cyanide, say sources; workers weren‰??t equipped with safety gear
Three employees of a chemical plant in Palghar‰??s Tarapur MIDC area died on Sunday afternoon allegedly after inhaling toxic gas after a leak.
The Boisar police have registered an Accidental Death Report in the matter and are probing the reason behind the leak. The workers were reportedly not wearing any safety equipment including masks while handling toxic chemicals.
Sources told Mirror that the gas may have had traces of cyanide.
victims have been identified as Prabhakar Khadse, 58, Raghu Gorai, 52 and Dattatray Ghule, 24, all residents of Boisar.
According to the police, the incident took place at around 3:45 pm at the Esquare Chemical factory ‰?? a chemical processing plant ‰?? at Tarapur MIDC. At least 7-8 workers were at the premises when work of filling the chemical was on and one of the tanks reportedly developed a small crack that lead to the leakage of the toxic gas.
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OFFICIALS: HAZMAT CREW RESPONDS TO CHEMICAL SITUATION IN LONG BEACH ‰?? CBS NEW YORK
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/05/10/hazmat-situation-chemical-odor-long-beach/
Tags: us_NY, laboratory, discovery, injury, drugs
LONG BEACH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) ‰?? Firefighters were on the scene Friday of a Hazmat situation in a Long Island beach community.
Officials said it was a precaution taken due to an overabundance of concern to keep everyone safe. A Hazmat crew responded to West Beech Street in Long Beach, where there was an active chemical situation in a garage after a male victim was discovered unconscious in his side yard, CBS2‰??s Jennifer McLogan reported.
‰??Inside a detached garage they saw what appears to be a chemical laboratory. There was an active heat source and there were chemicals that appeared to be cooking inside. The aided was transported to local hospital,‰?? Long Beach Police Det. Lt. Stefan Chernaski said.
Officials said there was a fear of explosion. Bomb containment units arrived, along with the Drug Enforcement Administration, McLogan reported.
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HOUSTON SHIP CHANNEL REMAINS CLOSED AFTER TANKER COLLISION SPILLS GASOLINE
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Houston-Ship-Channel-remains-closed-after-tanker-13837896.php
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, gasoline
Much of the Houston Ship Channel remained closed Saturday a day after two vessels collided, causing a large gasoline blend spill and setting off another round of environmentalists concerns for the Gulf Coast.
The 755-foot tanker Genesis River carrying liquefied natural gas collided Friday afternoon with a tug boat pushing two barges, each carrying 25,000 barrels of product, around 3:30 p.m., the U.S. Coast Guard said. One barge capsized and the other was damaged, leaking a gasoline product called reformate.
The channel closure is the first unplanned shutdown since March, when a massive chemical storage tank fire at Intercontinental Terminals Co., in Deer Park spilled petroleum products into nearby waterways. That three-day closure cost the energy industry about $1 billion, experts estimated.
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HAZ-MAT INCIDENT AT YORK WATER PLANT SENDS 3 TO HOSPITAL
https://www.fosters.com/news/20190511/haz-mat-incident-at-york-water-plant-sends-3-to-hospital
Tags: us_ME, industrial, release, injury, water_treatment
KITTERY, Maine ‰?? The York Fire Department responded Friday afternoon to a hazardous material incident at the Boulter Pond treatment plant in York, owned by the Kittery Water District.
The plant processes water to supply Kittery, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Eliot.
An aluminum sulfate solution was inadvertently delivered to the plant and mixed with sodium hypochlorite. Both chemicals are used in the water treatment process, but at different stages of purification. The mixture caused some concern due to possible unknown reactions that could result.
Three workers were affected by the fumes and taken to York Hospital. Symptoms ranged from nausea to shortness of breath. They were treated and released by hospital staff.
Emergency agencies were called to the scene by York Fire Department. Following an evaluation, the PNSY Fire Department‰??s haz-mat team was requested as were York County Emergency Management haz-mat response members.
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ANHYDROUS AMMONIA SPILL UNDERSCORES SAFETY PUSH
https://www.ilnews.org/news/agriculture/anhydrous-ammonia-spill-underscores-safety-push/article_24c745d8-735b-11e9-9153-ff07a5c26c31.html
Tags: us_IL, industrial, follow-up, environmental, ammonia
More than 30 people were hospitalized after an accident in the Chicago suburb of Beach Park last month after tanks of anhydrous ammonia, a compressed gas used to fertilize corn, leaked into the atmosphere.
Jean Payne, president of the Illinois Chemical and Fertilizer Association, said that the farmer in question failed to follow some necessary safety procedures.
That failure, she said, highlights a flaw in what is otherwise a tightly regulated process in Illinois: the transportation of agricultural chemicals ‰?? fertilizers and pesticides ‰?? from the manufacturer to one of the state‰??s 350 large storage facilities to the stores that sell to farmers up to the fields themselves.
Most regulations are strict, according to Payne, and overseen by a host of federal and state agencies, including the U.S. and Illinois Environmental Protection Agencies and Departments of Agriculture and Transportation as well as the Occupational Health and Safety Administration and more.
The industry has mandatory training for those who store and sell chemicals but the Achilles heel, as evidenced by the April accident, is that traditionally for farmers, much of the training (although not for the purchase of certain pesticides) has been voluntary.
It‰??s a weak spot, she said, that the industry and the state are looking to strengthen up.
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STUDENTS EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL AT WEST BOCA HIGH
https://www.wpbf.com/article/students-evacuated-after-chemical-spill-at-west-boca-high/27435129
Tags: us_FL, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
Students in one building at West Boca High School were evacuated Friday afternoon after a chemical spill in the science building.
Students and faculty members were moved to the cafeteria from Building 12. The school is located on 12811 Glades Road.
No other students were evacuated.
"This afternoon, while clearing out cabinets in one of the school's science labs some chemicals spilled and created a pungent smell," Principal Craig Sommer said in a call-out to parents and guardians. "Some students in the immediate area reported feeling a little lightheaded."
Some students and a teacher were being treated in the nurse's office.
---------------------------------------------
COAST GUARD, TCEQ RESPOND TO CHEMICAL SPILL AT HOUSTON SHIP CHANNEL
https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/coast-guard-tceq-respond-to-chemical-spill-at-houston-ship-channel/285-69e5a80a-8d3b-4405-b386-71ae5189d77f
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, gasoline
HOUSTON ‰?? The Coast Guard and state environmental agency are responding to a collision at the Houston Ship Channel, which spilled products used to make gasoline.
Two barges collided with a tanker south of Morgan's Point in the ship channel Friday around 3:30 p.m.
Coast Guard's Houston-Galveston sector received a report that the 755-foot tanker Genesis River and the tug Voyager collided.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is also responding.
Contractors with TCEQ are monitoring the air along with the Coast Guard and local first responders.
The tug was moving two barges loaded with the gasoline blend stock reformate.
That's the product spilling into the ship channel, though officials say the smell of gasoline does not necessarily mean there is a health hazard.
---------------------------------------------
IN PEABODY 35 YEARS AGO, 'IT SOUNDED LIKE AN ATOMIC BOMB'
https://patch.com/massachusetts/peabody/peabody-35-years-ago-it-sounded-atomic-bomb
Tags: us_MA, public, follow-up, environmental
PEABODY, MA ‰?? It started with a loud boom, followed by a fireball rising into the sky. Then the 55 gallon drums of chemicals that had been stored in the Henry Leather Company in downtown Peabody shot 150 feet into the air "like missiles," according to witness accounts. But in the end, the most amazing fact to emerge from the fire is that just one person, a 23-year-old roofer from Haverhill, was killed by the fire.
It was 35 years ago Friday, on May 10, 1984, that the Tannery Leather fire leveled two blocks in downtown Peabody. More than 100 people were treated at area hospitals and more than 300 people were instantly out of work. Hundreds more had to flee their homes, with authorities especially concerned about children, senior citizens and pregnant women inhaling the toxic fumes emerging from the disaster site.
"It was just this huge boom and then flames everywhere," a tannery worker told United Press International. "I don't know how so many people got out alive. The windows were blowing out, the door blowing out. I just ran for the door."
For blocks surrounding the disaster, homeowners rolled out garden hoses and watered down the sides of their houses to prevent the spread of the fire. The UPI report on the fire said the heat "turned aluminum siding to the consistency of marshmallows and left panes of glass 500 feet away too hot to touch."
---------------------------------------------
CRITICS WARN CHLORPYRIFOS BAN WOULD SET DANGEROUS PRECEDENT
https://www.eastoregonian.com/news/critics-warn-chlorpyrifos-ban-would-set-dangerous-precedent/article_c3388d5a-7345-11e9-8a94-cffe15716c4a.html
Tags: us_OR, public, discovery, environmental, ag_chems
Critics of a proposed ban on chlorpyrifos insecticides in Oregon argue the bill would not only harm farmers but also set a dangerous legislative precedent.
Supporters of House Bill 2619 argue that it‰??s necessary for Oregon lawmakers to take action due to uncertainty about the chemical‰??s regulation at the federal level.
A prohibition on spraying food crops with chlorpyrifos was proposed by the Obama administration but reversed by the Trump administration in 2017.
The federal government‰??s regulation of the pesticide is currently the subject of a legal fight before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that chlorpyrifos must be banned last year but has more recently reconsidered that decision.
---------------------------------------------
CHINA TIGHTENS SCREWS ON SMALL CHEMICAL PRODUCERS
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/china-tightens-screws-on-small-chemical-producers
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, environmental
After a deadly chemical explosion, the major chemical producing provinces of Shandong and Jiangsu will close, merge, or relocate more than 2,000 smaller chemical producers by 2022 on orders from China‰??s central government to address safety and environmental issues.
Shandong circulated a list May 8 of about 1,000 facilities that have started to be shut down or that will be forced to close, relocate, or merge.
This came on the heels of a separate list of 60 larger facilities...
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MEN INJURED IN TANKER EXPLOSION WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO SALT LAKE CITY
https://www.kulr8.com/news/injured-in-gasoline-explosion-in-lockwood/article_cf343abe-72a5-11e9-9aaf-37a48b1b4c59.html
Tags: us_MT, transportation, explosion, injury, gasoline
Update: Two people were injured Thursday after a split-tanker exploded inside a tank wash at Polar Service Center in Lockwood.
According to Lockwood Fire Chief John Staley, the tanker carried diesel and gasoline fuels. He said it was the gasoline side that exploded.
It is unclear what caused the explosion at this time.
---------------------------------------------
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS REMOVED FROM SAN CARLOS HOME IDENTIFIED
https://climaterwc.com/2019/05/09/radioactive-materials-removed-from-san-carlos-home-identified/
Tags: us_CA, public, follow-up, environmental, radiation, waste
The low-level radioactive materials discovered in the San Carlos home of a scientist who recently died have been safely removed and identified.
The materials found in the property in the 1000 block of Cedar Street, near Burton Park, on Thursday, May 2 prompted authorities to close the park and a nearby youth center. The materials were contained by a county hazmat crew and removed the following morning by state officials for safe disposal.
‰??Initial survey data indicates that the radioactive materials consisted mostly of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) such as uranium ore samples, a radium clock and other materials with thorium,‰?? according to the city of San Carlos.
County health officials performed two additional sweeps of the home and didn‰??t find any other radioactive sources. A private firm will head to the property to clean up any household hazardous waste and materials, but there are no threats to the public at the property, the city reported.
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INEFFECTIVE MAINTENANCE, SAFETY MANAGEMENT LED TO BARGE EXPLOSION
https://www.workerscompensation.com/news_read.php?id=32534
Tags: us_DC, transportation, follow-up, death, flammables
Washington, DC (WorkersCompensation.com) - An explosion and fire aboard a barge was the result of a lack of effective maintenance and safety management of the barge by the Bouchard Transportation Company, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report released Thursday.
Marine Accident Brief 19/07 states the Oct. 20, 2017, explosion aboard the articulated tug and barge Buster Bouchard/B No. 255 was caused by the ignition of flammable vapor that formed in a void space. The vapor was from crude oil that leaked into the void space from the number one port cargo tank through a corroded bulkhead. Two barge crewmembers who were on the bow were killed in the explosion. About 2,000 barrels of crude oil were discharged from the barge into the water, or, were consumed in the ensuing fire. The barge sustained more than $5 million in damage and was scrapped after the accident. The tugboat was not damaged.
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COUNTY AUTHORITIES PROBE CHEMICAL LIQUID LEAK SCANDAL
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1149279.shtml
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, environmental, waste
Local authorities in North China's Shanxi Province are investigating the aluminum manufacturer amid a chemical liquid leak scandal, and relocating residents nearby.
The government of Jiaokou county, Shanxi Province announced on Thursday that they have arranged to help 35 families who had lived in the polluted area move out and have ordered the aluminum manufacture under the Xinfa Group to suspend production.
The announcement came after the Beijing News reported on Wednesday that local villagers since 2017 have reported alkali liquor leaking from the cracks in the red mud dam, which is run by the company on the aluminum oxide project, severely polluting the environment and sparking concern over the possibility of the dam break.
The Beijing News said on Tuesday that the company put up a factory, including gas stations, kilns, bauxite and limestone silos along the river eight kilometers away from the dam. The report said the red mud containing alumina waste is transported by the pipeline from the factory to the dam.
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COMPANY LINKED TO VIC CHEMICAL STOCKPILES
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/company-linked-to-vic-chemical-stockpiles
Tags: Australia, industrial, discovery, response, illegal, waste
A dozen illegal chemical stockpiles have been found across Melbourne's north, a recycling and waste management inquiry has been told.
The illegal waste sites were found during joint inspections by the environment watchdog, firefighters and police, WorkSafe business operations boss Marnie Williams told the parliamentary inquiry on Friday.
"Since last December, 12 sites have been discovered across Epping, Campbellfield and Craigieburn where waste dangerous goods have been stored in contravention of the law," Ms Williams said.
The inquiry has previously been told the stockpiles were possibly linked to organised crime and ""shonky" operators were putting the community at risk.
The inquiry follows a string of factory fires in the suburbs of Campbellfield, West Footscray and Coolaroo, where waste stockpiles have been identified.
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