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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 6:59:04 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 (12 articles)
DRANO BOMB EXPLOSION IN DUNDEE, MICHIGAN
Tags: us_MI, education, explosion, response, bomb
BUTANE HONEY OIL LAB EXPLODES IN SIMI VALLEY; FILLMORE TEENS ARRESTED
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, explosion, response, butane, drugs, illegal
GAS LEAK SEES SIX PEOPLE TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AND LEISURE CENTRE EVACUATED
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
LA COUNTY AGAIN PUSHES FOR PHASE-OUT OF OIL REFINERY CHEMICAL
Tags: us_CA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, hydrofluoric_acid
USA REACHES AN AGREEMENT WITH CLEVELAND-CLIFFS FOR 2019 TOXIC CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_IN, industrial, follow-up, environmental, ammonia, cyanide
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST EASTMAN OVER JAN. 31 INCIDENT
Tags: us_TN, industrial, follow-up, environmental, asbestos
EXTENT OF PHARMACEUTICAL POLLUTION ON EVERY CONTINENT ON EARTH REVEALED
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, discovery, environmental, pharmaceutical
FEDEX FINED BY OSHA FOR MISHANDLING FORMIC ACID AT AN IOWA FACILITY
Tags: us_IA, industrial, follow-up, response, other_chemical, waste
EXCLUSION ZONE SETUP IN SHELL COVE AS ARMY CALLED IN
Tags: Australia, public, discovery, response, explosives
INDIANA STEEL MILL AGREES TO PAY $3M, IMPROVE WASTE SYSTEM
Tags: us_IN, public, follow-up, environmental, ammonia, toxics
FIRE AT CHEMICAL COMPANY, NO LOSS OR INJURIES REPORTED
Tags: India, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
FRESH CHEESE COMPANY ACCEPTS FINE FOR 2018 SPILL AT BROADMEADOWS FACTORY
Tags: Australia, public, follow-up, environmental, milk, waste
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DRANO BOMB EXPLOSION IN DUNDEE, MICHIGAN
https://www.wtol.com/article/news/crime/dundee-pd-cminor-chemical-explosion-believed-to-be-homemade-drano-bomb/512-3d4c54a9-10c0-46ca-aac9-446436b38e4f
Tags: us_MI, education, explosion, response, bomb
DUNDEE, Mich. ' Dundee police and fire crews are on the scene of a "minor chemical explosion" Tuesday night.
The device is believed to be a homemade "Drano bomb," according to a post from the Dundee Police Department on Facebook. The explosion occurred in the 600 block of Rawson Street near Dundee High School.
A second device was found nearby, Dundee police say, and Michigan State Police ordnance removal and hazmat crews have been called to assist in safely removing and preserving the device for evidence.
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BUTANE HONEY OIL LAB EXPLODES IN SIMI VALLEY; FILLMORE TEENS ARRESTED
https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/local/communities/county/2022/02/15/butane-honey-oil-lab-explosion-simi-valley-fillmore-teens-arrested/6791766001/
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, explosion, response, butane, drugs, illegal
Simi Valley police arrested a 41-year-old man after a butane honey oil laboratory exploded inside his apartment early Tuesday morning.
The explosion, reported at 4:14 a.m. in the 1800 block of Bishop Lane, blew out windows on the ground floor of the apartment building, burned the top of the man's feet and singed his hair, according to first responders.
The man and his uninjured roommate were taken to a local hospital as a precaution, authorities said.
Police attributed the explosion the volatile chemicals used in making honey oil, a concentration of the psychoactive chemical in marijuana.
The injured man was arrested on felony charges of manufacturing a controlled substance, while the roommate was determined to be uninvolved in the criminal activity, according to police.
---------------------------------------------
GAS LEAK SEES SIX PEOPLE TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AND LEISURE CENTRE EVACUATED
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-chemical-leak-sees-six-26239221
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
Six people have been hospitalised with breathing difficulties after a gas leak at a leisure centre in Cleveland.
The North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) were called to Loftus Leisure Centre at 3.10pm this afternoon.
They treated 10 patients with breathing difficulties and transported six of them to hospital, while the leisure centre was evacuated.
Craig Strike, Head of Prevention at Cleveland Fire Brigade, has told Teesside Live that four members of the public and two staff members have been taken to hospital with breathing difficulties.
Everyone Active, which operates the leisure centre, confirmed there has been a gas leak.
---------------------------------------------
LA COUNTY AGAIN PUSHES FOR PHASE-OUT OF OIL REFINERY CHEMICAL
https://mynewsla.com/government/2022/02/15/la-county-again-pushes-for-phase-out-of-oil-refinery-chemical/
Tags: us_CA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, hydrofluoric_acid
Continuing a years-long campaign, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to send a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state attorney general asking that California take whatever steps necessary to halt the use of a much-debated chemical at oil refineries in Torrance and Wilmington.
The board unanimously approved a motion by Supervisor Janice Hahn calling for the letter to be signed by all five members of the board, calling for modified hydroflouric acid to be phased out at the two refineries and replaced with a safer alternative.
Hahn said the Torrance Refining Company and Valero Wilmington Refinery are the last two in the state using the chemical, known as MHF. Efforts have been undertaken in the past to encourage a phasing out of the chemical, most notably following a Feb. 18, 2015, explosion at the Torrance refinery. According to a federal review after the blast, debris from the explosion nearly ruptured a tank containing MHF.
'If it had hit that tank, we would have had a massive disaster here in Southern California,' Hahn said. 'It's a reminder to all of us (of) the life-threatening catastrophic risk that MHF still causes to county residents.'
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USA REACHES AN AGREEMENT WITH CLEVELAND-CLIFFS FOR 2019 TOXIC CHEMICAL SPILL
https://lawstreetmedia.com/news/agriculture/usa-reaches-an-agreement-with-cleveland-cliffs-for-2019-toxic-chemical-spill/
Tags: us_IN, industrial, follow-up, environmental, ammonia, cyanide
On Monday, the United States of America and the State of Indiana filed a complaint in the Northern District of Indiana against Cleveland-Cliffs Burns Harbor LLC and Cleveland-Cliffs Steel LLC for a 2019 discharge of toxic chemicals into Lake Michigan, which resulted in the killing of marine life and the closure of several public beaches in Indiana.
The defendants own the Burns Harbor Facility, 'one of the largest fully integrated steel mills in North America, with the capacity to produce approximately 5 million tons of raw steel per year.' The facility has a federal NPDES permit which authorizes it to 'discharge treated wastewater, stormwater, and non-contact cooling water, as well as treated sanitary sewage wastewater from the Town of Burns dHarbor's wastewater treatment plant.' The plaintiffs alleged that Cleveland-Cliffs sends once-through, unrecycled water into the treatment plant despite not being allowed to do so. Because of this, the facility allegedly discharged toxins including cyanide and ammonia into Lake Michigan. Furthermore, in August 2019, an alleged malfunction led to millions of gallons of intoxicated wastewater to be dumped into Lake Michigan, which Cleveland-Cliffs failed to notify the federal authorities of for several days. This caused the closure of several public beaches, the killing o!
f thousands of marine life, and a major cleanup mission to detoxify the lake.
The United States of America sued Cleveland-Cliffs seeking injunctive relief permanently enjoining the defendants from further violating the Clean Waters Act (CWA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), civil penalties, reimbursement, disbursement, and other relief.
---------------------------------------------
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST EASTMAN OVER JAN. 31 INCIDENT
https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/eastman-steam-line-failure/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-eastman-over-jan-31-incident/
Tags: us_TN, industrial, follow-up, environmental, asbestos
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) ' Eastman Chemical Company faces a class-action lawsuit following the Jan. 31 'steam pipe failure' at the company's Kingsport plant, which injured five workers and caused debris possibly containing asbestos to rain down in a nearby neighborhood.
The lawsuit filed by Knoxville-based firm Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman accuses Eastman of trespass, negligence, and being a public and private nuisance. It claims Eastman 'engaged in ultra-hazardous activities by transporting high pressure steam under unsafe condition through an asbestos-lined steam line.'
Jan. 31 Eastman steam line failure led to 3,000-plus pounds of excess volatile organic compound emissions
The lawsuit also claims the company failed to warn nearby residents in a timely manner about the 'dangers of contaminants released by the steam line explosion.'
On the day of the incident, Eastman did not release a public statement until nearly an hour and a half after the steam line failure happened. Since then, the company has said that it did not ask city officials to send an alert to residents because it did not see the potential for off-site impact until hours after the incident.
Eastman reported 3 wastewater discharges same day as steam line failure
The plaintiff in the lawsuit, Sharon Weatherly, owns a home in the area where the debris fell. The lawsuit claims that Weatherly's neighborhood and much of Kingsport will be negatively impacted by the incident.
---------------------------------------------
EXTENT OF PHARMACEUTICAL POLLUTION ON EVERY CONTINENT ON EARTH REVEALED
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/extent-of-pharmaceutical-pollution-on-every-continent-on-earth-revealed/4015238.article
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, discovery, environmental, pharmaceutical
The global extent of pharmaceutical pollution has been revealed in a new study that has also shone a spotlight on contamination hotspots around the world. A lab in York in the UK worked with samples from 259 rivers, encompassing 104 countries on every continent to build-up a picture of contamination of waterways with drugs.
'This is the first time, using one huge dataset, we are able to take a comparative view of pharmaceutical pollution across the world,' says John Wilkinson at the University of York, UK, where water samples were shipped by collaborators for high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The survey involved the cooperation of 86 institutions worldwide, with a consortium of 127 researchers. Previously, extensive data on pharma pollution was only available for the US, Europe and China.
Samples were collected at 1052 locations, including 36 countries not previously studied, and screened for 61 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Each partner collecting samples followed the same protocol and samples were analysed on one instrument using the same method. The most contaminated sites were in sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia and South America. Waterway pollution is the result of production, disposal or human use of pharmaceuticals.
---------------------------------------------
FEDEX FINED BY OSHA FOR MISHANDLING FORMIC ACID AT AN IOWA FACILITY
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2022/02/14/iowa-osha-fedex-fined-formic-acid-worker-complaint-des-moines/6785042001/
Tags: us_IA, industrial, follow-up, response, other_chemical, waste
FedEx Corp. has been fined more than $24,000 over allegations of mishandling dangerous chemicals at a facility near Des Moines.
The Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued fines in January after it investigated four serious violations of worker safety rules at the FedEx Freight terminal on N.E. 22nd Street just outside the Des Moines city limits. An employee complaint filed last summer alleged the company had not provided proper personal protective equipment to workers after a spill of formic acid.
What Iowa OSHA found in its investigation
According to complaint documents, IOSHA found that FedEx had:
Four instances of violating hazardous waste and emergency training rules when handling formic acid;
Violated rules for emergency alarms in one instance involving formic acid;
And in one instance failed to eliminate hazardous conditions before employees returned to work.
---------------------------------------------
EXCLUSION ZONE SETUP IN SHELL COVE AS ARMY CALLED IN
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7621218/army-detonates-suspicious-canister-in-shell-cove/
Tags: Australia, public, discovery, response, explosives
The sounds of an explosion rang through Shell Cove around 1.30pm on Tuesday, after a suspicious object was detonated by the army.
An exclusion zone had been setup near Bass Point and the army called in after a military canister was found by a member of the public, it was washed up at the Shallows Coastal Reserve near Bass Point.
The Mercury understands Martin Riggenbach was one of the members of the public who found the washed up canister and alerted authorities. Picture: Martin Riggenbach
Lake Illawarra Chief Inspector Don Faulds told the Mercury a large canister about the size of a cricket bat was located around 9.42am at the Shallows Coastal Reserve in Shell Cove.
Read more: Illawarra's nurses say strike is only the beginning
Inspector Faulds said it was believed to be "military ordnance" (some kind of weaponry).
"As soon as we realised what it is we've stepped back," he said, noting the army had to be called to determine what it was, how old it was and the safest way to dispose of it.
---------------------------------------------
INDIANA STEEL MILL AGREES TO PAY $3M, IMPROVE WASTE SYSTEM
https://jg-tc.com/news/state-and-regional/indiana-steel-mill-agrees-to-pay-3m-improve-waste-system/article_d77db6f3-138b-5b2f-a164-0205bfe7ee6c.html
Tags: us_IN, public, follow-up, environmental, ammonia, toxics
PORTAGE Ind. (AP) ' A steel company has agreed to pay $3 million and improve the wastewater system at an Indiana mill, more than two years after a discharge of ammonia and toxic chemicals killed fish and closed beaches, the federal government said Monday.
The mill, owned at the time by ArcelorMittal USA, exceeded discharge limits and failed to properly report releases at Burns Harbor, the U.S. Justice Department said.
The agreement was made with the mill's current owner, Cleveland-Cliffs.
The settlement "appropriately penalizes the company for its significant violations and requires extensive actions by the company to prevent future pollution,' said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim.
Thousands of fish were killed in the East Branch of the Little Calumet River after the discharge of untreated water. Lake Michigan beaches were closed along the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
---------------------------------------------
FIRE AT CHEMICAL COMPANY, NO LOSS OR INJURIES REPORTED
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/fire-at-chemical-company-no-loss-or-injuries-reported/article65050100.ece
Tags: India, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
A major fire broke out at a chemical company on the city outskirts at Rampally in Keesara police limits on Monday. No loss or injuries to persons was reported.
It was suspected that the fire originated due to a short circuit in the lines and it rapidly spread to the containers filled with chemical. The billowing smoke and fire also spread to another company on its side.
Fire officials pressed four tenders into action and brought the situation under control in a two-hour operation.
---------------------------------------------
FRESH CHEESE COMPANY ACCEPTS FINE FOR 2018 SPILL AT BROADMEADOWS FACTORY
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-15/cheese-company-fined-toxic-spill/100831398
Tags: Australia, public, follow-up, environmental, milk, waste
A dairy company behind a chemical spill that left authorities gagging over the "putrid, sour and rancid" smell of rotten cheese in a Melbourne creek has been convicted and fined.
The Fresh Cheese Co was today handed an $8,060 fine in the County Court of Victoria after pleading guilty to permitting an environmental hazard at Yuroke Creek in Broadmeadows close to four years ago.
The court heard that the alarm was raised by members of the public who noticed a "nauseating" smell that resembled sewage or rotting milk while walking on Ripplebrook Drive near the creek.
The reports prompted the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to send an officer who uncovered "thick white sludge" near the culvert of Yuroke Creek.
The court today heard the odour from the liquid was so powerful that Melbourne Water staff dispatched to the site to clean it up were left gagging.
Judge David Brookes said the Fresh Cheese Company had accepted responsibility for the spill.
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