Next by Date: Subject: Photographing non-compliance Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2011 16:40:23 +0000 Author: John Crawford McGregor
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:18:36 -0500
Reply-To: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
Sender: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
From: Ralph Stuart <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: Chemical Safety headlines from Google
UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. - A freight train
derailed and sideswiped another on the banks of Puget Sound, sending
some cars carrying a hazardous chemical careening off the rails near the
water, officials said.
Fourteen
cars derailed Saturday night and most were empty, but four were tankers
carrying sodium hydroxide, or lye, BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said. The
chemical is used in industry and to regulate the pH levels of water but
can be hazardous and cause breathing problems and
burns.
None of the chemical appears
to have gone into the water, Melonas said.
No one was injured in the derailment, which occurred
about 8:30 p.m. near the Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place,
13 miles south of Tacoma in Pierce County, .
LA VERGNE
=97 Hazardous materials teams responded to a chemical spill behind a
former business on Jefferson Pike Friday morning thanks to an alert city
police officer.
The officer noticed a suspicious individual loading 55
gallon barrels into the back of a pick-up truck at 162 Jefferson Pike,
which is the former location of Pipe Dreams Inc. Further investigation
revealed a foul smell and evidence of chemicals on the
ground.
La Vergne Fire Department responded and in turn
notified Rutherford County's Emergency Services.
"We came
out and were able to define a specific area that may be contaminated by
an unknown product," Emergency Services Coordinator Rick McCormick told
WSMV-TV. "Some of it may be acetone, which is indicated on the 55-gallon
drums."
An environmental service company and the Tennessee
Department of Environment and Conservation's solid waste division are
sampling the soil to determine the type of contaminate and scope of the
potential impact.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc had a release of an unknown
amount of benzene after an equipment failure on a distilling unit at its
Deer Park refinery and chemical plant in Texas, according to a company
filing.
Shell=92s filing also showed the equipment was
repaired.
The Deer Park refinery, a venture between The
Hague-based Shell and Mexico=92s state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos, can
process 340,000 barrels of oil a day, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg.
The complex is 21 miles (34 kilometers) southeast of
Houston on the Houston Ship Channel.
U.S. refineries must notify
the National Response Center if they release hazardous substances in
excess of reportable quantities, according to the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, commonly known
as Superfund.
At least
two were injured Saturday after a boiler blast caused the leak of
ammonia gas at a chemical plant in east China's Zhejiang Province,
rescuers said.
The accident occurred at around 8:50 p.m. at a local
chemical plant in Panshi Town of Yueqing City.
The
injured had been rushed to hospital, rescuers said.
Many
workers were working when the accident happened. Rescuers sped off
towards the scene to put out the fire and were searching the site for
possible victims.
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