THE ARKEMA ANATHEMA: OSHA cited King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based Arkema Inc.’s Crosby, Texas, facility for 10 serious safety violations

A Harris County, Texas, chemical facility that flooded due to Tropical Storm Harvey and experienced two explosions has a history of workplace safety violations.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based Arkema Inc.’s Crosby, Texas, facility for 10 serious safety violations — nine of which were related to OSHA’s standard for process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals — after opening an inspection in August 2016. The agency initially proposed penalties totaling $107,918 — an amount reduced to $91,724 in February after an informal settlement conference and company abatement activities, according to agency documents.

It is premature to speculate if any of the identified hazards in this inspection contributed to the explosion, according to OSHA.

Arkema President and CEO Rich Rowe apologized during a Friday press conference to everyone affected by the situation at the Crosby plant, including employees who stayed on-site until ordered to leave the facility by emergency responders establishing an evacuation zone within a 1.5-mile radius from the plant. Employees had shut down all operations on Aug. 25 prior to the hurricane’s landfall; a small “ride-out” crew was left on-site to address situations arising during the storm, but they were evacuated this Tuesday for their safety, according to the company.

“I’ve heard it said that Arkema abandoned the plant, but I know we did not do that,” he said to the company’s employees. “You did everything in your power to safely secure the site, and you left when you were ordered to leave both for your safety and the safety of our emergency responders.”

During the question-and-answer session, the Arkema CEO was asked about a long history of safety violations at the plant, some of which the company has previously denied.

“We don’t have a perfect record,” he said. “We understand that. We strive to get better at every turn and will continue to do so, and we hope that through how we handle experiences and matters like this that the perception of the community will only get better. The performance of the plant from a safety perspective has certainly improved. We are open. We’re transparent. When we have audits from regulatory authorities, we deal with the issues that are raised.”

Separately, OSHA previously cited Arkema’s Houston facility for 12 serious, one repeat and one other-than-serious violations for exposing workers to multiple safety hazards while producing organic chemicals. That facility faced proposed penalties totaling $117,100, according to an OSHA press release dated July 11, 2012. However, three serious citations were deleted and the total fines reduced to $76,370 after adjustment by OSHA’s national office and review by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Arkema has also been cited for safety violations at its facilities in other states. For example, a 2012 inspection at its Lemont, Illinois, facility resulted in nine violations and $16,588 in penalties — an amount lowered after an informal settlement conference from the $46,750 initially assessed.

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It’s one of those stories we know all too well. A company prone to spreading environmental hazards also spreads cash to politicians and gets cited and modestly fined for violating protective rules it has fought to keep from being imposed. The piddly fines don’t deter it from keeping on doing what it was doing, and along comes a disaster that “nobody could have foreseen.” And we now have in place, in Washington, D.C., and Texas, government officials who seek to make life even easier for such companies.

In this instance, it’s Arkema, a global giant operating in 50 countries manufacturing a wide array of industrial chemicals. The company has six production plants in Texas, including one in Crosby, about 25 miles northeast of Houston. Flooding as a result of Hurricane Harvey compromised the plant, causing two explosions Wednesday, and fires from chemical interactions sent smoke high above the facility on Thursday. The company has reported that fires are now out. But more could start. Even if they don’t, it’s likely not the end of troubles there. A second container of chemicals ruptured at the site late Thursday.

Despite worries about toxic emissions from those fires, the Environmental Protection Agency reported that it has detected none. Officially then, there’s no reason for concern that the situation will cause harm to people in the area. Believe that if you wish. 

Who are those people? According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 1,278 households exist within a five-mile radius of the plant, 909 of whom are below the poverty line. The EPA estimates that about 4,000 people live within five miles of the plant. Expendables in the view of too many of the powers-that-be. 

Arkema, however, has gotten better treatment than those expendables could ever expect. That includes $8.7 million in subsidies from the state’s taxpayers. And for 10 violations earlier this year—eight of them serious—the federal government fined it $90,000. In 2016, the company earned a record profit of $1.4 billion from its worldwide operations. 

The International Business Times reports:

While Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has given chemical companies legal cover to hide the locations of their EPA-regulated chemicals, the Associated Press reports that the imperiled Arkema facility houses large amounts of toxic sulfur dioxide and flammable methylpropen, which required Arkema to submit a risk management plan to the agency—and which would have subjected the company to the strengthened safety rules.

However, those rules—which would have taken effect on March 14—were blocked by EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, who as Oklahoma Attorney General demanded the rule be withdrawn. The move was a big win for the chemical industry that has spent more than $100 million supporting federal lawmakers since 2008. Among those who have received more than $100,000 from the industry are powerful Texas lawmakers including Sen. John Cornyn (R), Rep. Joe Barton (R), Rep. Pete Olson (R), Rep. Gene Green (D), Rep. Pete Sessions (R) and Rep. Kevin Brady (R).

That’s about $100,000+ to six members of the Senate and House, and $90,000 for 10 violations of the rules that could actually kill people.

Kelly Weill and Stephen Paulsen at the Daily Beast provided some more detail of those violations. The company claimed it had done everything it could to prevent the fires. But:

[P]eople living within a 1.5-mile mandatory evacuation zone didn’t know what chemicals were stored at the plant, thanks to a 2014 decision by then-Attorney General Greg Abbott, which classified once-public reports on hazardous chemicals. Abbott is now governor.

Arkema and its Crosby facility have racked up over a dozen violations and “informal enforcement actions” over safety and environmental problems over the past five years, according to records from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The latest OSHA case closed in May 2017 and cost Arkema an initial penalty of more than $100,000. Eight of the ten violations fall under the category of “process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals,” meaning Arkema was breaking rules meant to prevent the “catastrophic releases of toxic, reactive, flammable, or explosive chemicals,” according to the OSHA appendix of regulations.

Meanwhile, the insane-bozo Trump regime would like to completely eliminate the small agency that has been sent to investigate the situation at Arkema—the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. 

With a budget of $11 million and 40 staffers, the independent agency has run more than 130 investigations in its nearly two decades in existence. One of those took it to the Gulf of Mexico for the Deepwater Horizon disaster:

It comes in to determine what happened after accidents and disasters — much like the National Transportation Safety Board, said Elgie Holstein, senior director for strategic planning with the Environmental Defense Fund.

“Would we ever do away with that group that looks at aircraft accidents after they’ve occurred, or train accidents after they’ve occurred, the NTSB?” asked Holstein. “No. So why would we be getting rid of the Chemical Safety Board, which does the same thing?”

Sadly, the why is all too obvious.


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Explosion at Arkema chemical plant hit by Harvey


Published: Aug 31, 2017


DanMolinski


Industrial chemical manufacturer Arkema said Wednesday it has "no way to prevent" a potentially large explosion and fire at its facility near Houston, after flooding due to Tropical Storm Harvey.

The Arkema plant in Crosby, Texas, some 25 miles northeast of Houston, was evacuated late Tuesday. Working with authorities, the company also urged everyone within a mile and a half of the plant to evacuate, and shut down a stretch of Highway 90 that runs alongside the plant, which produces organic peroxides for things like acrylic-based paint.

"We have an unprecedented 6 feet of water throughout the plant," Arkema's North American operations Chief Executive Rich Rowe said in a teleconference Wednesday with reporters.

Mr. Rowe said that the plant lost primary power and two emergency backup power sources, which led to a shutdown of "critical refrigeration needed for our materials." He said that means those materials "could now explode and cause a subsequent and intense fire," and added that "the high water that exists on site, and the lack of power, leave us with no way to prevent it."

Mr. Rowe said about 300 people in all have been evacuated, but said it wasn't a mandatory evacuation, so he's not certain whether the 1.5-mile radius around the facility is currently devoid of people. He said it is mostly a rural area, so there are "a limited number of homes" within the area.

Mr. Rowe said local officials told him the water level in the area could actually continue to rise over the course of the next three to six days, and as such Arkema, which is based in France, believes the chemicals will start to degrade well before that happens.


"And once the chemicals begin to degrade we would be in a situation where we could be looking at a fire and/or an explosion," he said. As soon as the chemicals begin to degrade they start to "self-accelerate" in a type of no-turning-back mode, he added.

Mr. Rowe didn't get specific about the amount of chemicals on site or just how big the blast might be, except to say that the analysis of the quantity of chemical is what led authorities to decide on the 1.5-mile evacuation zone they deemed appropriate.

He said assuming there is an explosion or large fire, the company feels any sustained environmental impact should be "minimal," noting the possible incident would probably be largely confined to the Arkema site itself.

A reporter during the press conference asked Mr. Rowe to comment on Arkema being cited by the Occupation Safety and Health Administration in August 2016 for its handling of material.

"What we did after the OSHA audit and the conclusion of that audit was we invested several million dollars in the site, we shut the site down, we had OSHA officials come and visit the site," he said. "We addressed all the issues that came from that audit in -- I think -- an effective manner."

Write to Dan Molinski at Dan.Molinski@wsj.com

Industrial chemical manufacturer Arkema said early Thursday it has been notified about two explosions and black smoke coming from its plant in Crosby, Texas. The company said it is working closely with federal, state and local authorities to manage the situation, according to a statement on its website

On Wednesday, the company had said it has "no way to prevent" a potentially large explosion and fire at its facility near Houston, after flooding due to Tropical Storm Harvey.

The Arkema plant in Crosby, Texas, some 25 miles northeast of Houston, was evacuated late Tuesday. Working with authorities, the company also urged everyone within a mile and a half of the plant to evacuate, and shut down a stretch of Highway 90 that runs alongside the plant, which produces organic peroxides for things like acrylic-based paint.

"We have an unprecedented 6 feet of water throughout the plant," Arkema's North American operations Chief Executive Rich Rowe said in a teleconference Wednesday with reporters.

Mr. Rowe said that the plant lost primary power and two emergency backup power sources, which led to a shutdown of "critical refrigeration needed for our materials." He said that means those materials "could now explode and cause a subsequent and intense fire," and added that "the high water that exists on site, and the lack of power, leave us with no way to prevent it."

Mr. Rowe said about 300 people in all have been evacuated, but said it wasn't a mandatory evacuation, so he's not certain whether the 1.5-mile radius around the facility is currently devoid of people. He said it is mostly a rural area, so there are "a limited number of homes" within the area.

Mr. Rowe said local officials told him the water level in the area could actually continue to rise over the course of the next three to six days, and as such Arkema, which is based in France, believes the chemicals will start to degrade well before that happens.

"And once the chemicals begin to degrade we would be in a situation where we could be looking at a fire and/or an explosion," he said. As soon as the chemicals begin to degrade they start to "self-accelerate" in a type of no-turning-back mode, he added.

Mr. Rowe didn't get specific about the amount of chemicals on site or just how big the blast might be, except to say that the analysis of the quantity of chemical is what led authorities to decide on the 1.5-mile evacuation zone they deemed appropriate.

He said assuming there is an explosion or large fire, the company feels any sustained environmental impact should be "minimal," noting the possible incident would probably be largely confined to the Arkema site itself.

A reporter during the press conference asked Mr. Rowe to comment on Arkema being cited by the Occupation Safety and Health Administration in August 2016 for its handling of material.

"What we did after the OSHA audit and the conclusion of that audit was we invested several million dollars in the site, we shut the site down, we had OSHA officials come and visit the site," he said. "We addressed all the issues that came from that audit in -- I think -- an effective manner."