KRATON POLYMERS IN BELPRE, OHIO GAS
LEAK IS CONTAINED AND FIRE IS OUT. SEVERAL LEAKS HAVE OCCURRED THERE DURING THE PAST 365 DAYS.
UPDATE
8:51 PM
Kraton
Spokesman Mike White says a gas leak at Kraton has been contained and the fire
is out.
White
confirms the gas leak of process solvents was in a pipe in one of the operating
departments.
It
occurred around 6:00 PM Friday evening and resulted in a small flash fire.
Kraton's
crew responded and the small fire was isolated, under control and allowed to
burn itself out.
White
says there are no reports of any injuries.
Local
fire departments were put on standby.
White
says "with the fire water runoff into our South side runoff pond and we
are taking precautionary measures and placing booms in our area water systems
to contain the fire water runoff. At this time we do not anticipate any offsite
impact."
The fire
was out as of 8:40 PM Friday evening.
Washington
County Sheriff Larry Mincks says a gas leak has been reported in the boiler
room at Kraton Polymers.
Not much
is not know at this time.
The
extent of the leak is not known, nor is the origin.
Officials
still do not know what type of gas it is, but say that it is not an imminent
danger to the surround public.
//________________________________________//
UPDATE
1/20/2014 5:10 PM
Kraton
Polymers says there's no connection between an overnight leak at its Belpre
plant and a pair of leaks there ten days ago.
Plant
officials say it happened around 11:30 Sunday night.
An
employee tightening a gauge broke off a piece of the pump.
That
caused a small, 20 gallon leak of process solvents into the plant's water
treatment center
"We're
taking a look at what would have caused the piping to break while we were
tightening that gauge," says plant spokesman Mike White. "We have an
investigation team; we're always looking into, when a mistake happens, what
happened, what we can do to make sure it doesn't happen in the future, how can
we prevent it."
Officials
say this treatment system is not part of the pond that flows into Davis Creek
or the Ohio River and there should be no outside effect to the community or
fish life.
UPDATE
1/20/2014
A Sunday
night gas leak at Kraton Polymers in Belpre is contained.
A Kraton
spokesman says the leak was totally contained to the plant's site and there
should be no outside effect to the community or fish life.
Officials
say about 20 gallons of liquid process solvents leaked into the Plant’s
in-Plant water treatment center
The water
treatment system is not part of the overflow pond that flows into Davis Creek
or the Ohio River.
The
spokesman says the leak occurred after an employee broke off a piece of pump
while tightening a gauge.
Officials
say the Plant's alarmed was sounded off at 11:30 pm as part of a standard
operating procedure.
An all
clear was sounded at around 1:00 am.
Authorities
are responding to a gas leak at Kraton Polymers in Belpre, Ohio.
According
to Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks the leak is now under control and
slowly being contained.
Officials
say the leak occurred just before 11:30 pm Sunday night.
Nearby
residents have been issued a telephone warning through the Community Action
Network.
Authorities
say the leak is not significant and does not pose a threat to the community.
This is
the third leak out of Kraton in the past two weeks.
The
Belpre Police Department and Little Hocking Fire Department are both on stand
by at this time.
We will
keep you updated with the latest.
UPDATE
1/10/2014 05:10 PM
Kraton
deals with another small spill following Thursday's that did partially reach
Davis Creek.
This one
totally contained in a retention pond at the Belpre plant.
The second
spill happened at 10:30 Friday morning.
Kraton
says it was due to a vapor leak of process solvents and was contained and
treated within the plant.
Unlike
the first spill early Thursday, the company does not believe it will have any
effect on nearby Davis Creek.
The U.S.
EPA is on the plant site conducting an investigation of the leaks.
Davis
Creek, where a fish kill happened Thursday, is located near the Ohio River.
Belpre
Mayor Mike Lorentz told us the city gets its public water supplies from wells
and not from the river itself.
UPDATE
1/10/2014 12:30 PM
Officials
are addressing another leak at Kraton Polymers.
Mike
White, spokesman for the Belpre plant, says there is another leak in another
line.
He says
they are in the midst of addressing it.
He says
it's being contained to the plant's retention pond and they do not believe it
will impact Davis Creek or the Ohio River.
Belpre
Firefighters confirm the plant asked them to be on standby.
We will
bring you more information as it becomes available.
UPDATE
1/9/2014 4:15 PM
The
clean-up is well underway and the Ohio DNR responded early Thursday morning.
Kraton
describes it as a small solvent leak.
The
company says it happened just after 3:00 Thursday morning.
It was a
release of solvents used for cooling of plant equipment.
The
chemicals leaked into a retention pond and into nearby Davis Creek.
The Ohio
Department of Natural Resources and the state EPA are investigating.
"We
acted very quickly," says Mike White, plant spokesman. "Our emergency
response team got the booms out to try to contain it. We're trying to minimize
what effect it does have to the environment."
The
majority of the leak was controlled within hours, but what Kraton describes as
a "minor fish kill" resulted from the leak.
There
were no injuries, and White says there was little effect on operations at the
Belpre plant.
UPDATE
1/9/2014 11:25 AM
Kraton
Polymers released the following statement regarding a leak:
"At
approximately 3:15 a.m. this morning, we experienced a release of process
solvents as a result of a leak in a piece of equipment that provided cooling to
some process equipment. The leak resulted in a runoff to our south-side
in-plant retention pond and subsequently to the adjoining Davis Creek also
located on our site. Our in-plant environmental support team responded quickly
and we have contained the majority of the leak and have booms in place in Davis
Creek. Unfortunately, there was a minor fish kill within Davis Creek and the
Ohio River. Appropriate outside agencies, including the Ohio EPA and DNR, have
been notified. There were no injuries and effect to plant operations is minimal
as a result of the incident. An investigation team has been formed to determine
the cause."
A leak at
Kraton kills fish in a creek and the Ohio River.
Officials
at the Belpre plant say process solvents leaked into the plant's retention
pond, which feeds into Davis Creek.
The leak
occurred at 3:15 Thursday morning, resulting in a minor fish kill in the creek
and the Ohio River.
The Ohio
DNR responded and the Ohio EPA was notified.
We have a
reporter on the scene and we will bring you more information as it becomes
available.