From: DCHAS Membership Chair <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (5 articles)
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2020 09:53:26 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: 4D7C4882-29C9-41D5-B0AF-56FC96EFD058**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, February 28, 2020 at 9:42:30 AM

A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Connecting Chemistry and Safety at http://www.dchas.org
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Table of Contents (5 articles)

FOLLOW UP ON COLUMBIA GAS OF MASSACHUSETTS EXPLOSIONS
Tags: us_MA, transportation, follow-up, environmental, natural_gas

TPC FACES CONSEQUENCES FOR TEXAS EXPLOSION
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental

THE WING GURU IN BARTLETT DAMAGED BY FIRE, TEMPORARILY CLOSES
Tags: us_TN, public, fire, response, cleaners

UNIT COMMENDATION FOR COURAGE PRESENTED TO YOUNG FIRE AND RESCUE NSW
Tags: Australia, industrial, follow-up, environmental, sodium_hydroxide

TPC GROUP EXPLOSION DEMONSTRATES VULNERABILITY OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS SCHOOLS NEAR PETROCHEMICAL PLANTS
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental


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FOLLOW UP ON COLUMBIA GAS OF MASSACHUSETTS EXPLOSIONS
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/the-download/goodbye-columbia-gas/
Tags: us_MA, transportation, follow-up, environmental, natural_gas

Leonel Rondon, the 18-year-old killed in the Merrimack Valley gas explosions, can never be brought back, but other customers of Columbia Gas say they will rest more safely with the news that the company will no longer be doing business in Massachusetts.

The US Attorney‰??s office announced Wednesday that Columbia Gas of Massachusetts agreed to plead guilty to violating a national pipeline safety standard, which could have prevented the over-pressurization of its gas distribution system that resulted in the September 2018 explosions.

US Attorney Andrew Lelling accused the company of ‰??a wholesale management failure‰?? and ‰??a pattern of flagrant indifference in the face of extreme risks to life and property,‰?? according to the Boston Globe.

The gas explosions in Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover killed Rondon, severely disabled one person, injured 22 people, caused a massive evacuation, and damaged 130 homes and businesses.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Columbia Gas will pay a $53 million fine and be subject to a three-year monitoring period. During that time, NiSource ‰?? Columbia Gas‰??s parent company ‰?? agreed to try to sell the Massachusetts company, which would then stop all gas pipeline operations in the state. NiSource will forfeit any profits from the sale.

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TPC FACES CONSEQUENCES FOR TEXAS EXPLOSION
https://cen.acs.org/safety/TPC-faces-consequences-Texas-explosion/98/web/2020/02
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental

TPC Group says it will take years to rebuild its Port Neches, Texas, plant after the explosions and fire that shook the facility last year. Adding to the company‰??s woes, it now faces a lawsuit from the state of Texas over chronic emission releases from the plant, including those that occurred during the Nov. 27 incident.

The process of rebuilding the plant, which refines butadiene, will take 3‰??5 years, TPC says. The company expects to restore terminal operations at the facility during the first half of 2020. But because a terminal requires fewer workers, it is laying off an undisclosed number of employees.


The cause of the blast and fire, which injured three workers and forced 50,000 local residents to shelter in place, is still unknown. The US Chemical Safety Board is investigating.

Meanwhile, the Texas attorney general is suing TPC on behalf of the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The government‰??s complaint says that in 2018 and 2019, the Port Neches plant was the source of eight ‰??unauthorized emissions events,‰?? in addition to the November 2019 explosion. For example, on Jan. 22, 2018, nearly 50 kg of butadiene were released due to overpressurization of the plant at start-up that caused flaring.

‰??TPC Group‰??s poor operational, maintenance, and design practices continue to cause emissions events and unauthorized emissions,‰?? the suit says. TCEQ is seeking a full environmental audit of the plant.

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THE WING GURU IN BARTLETT DAMAGED BY FIRE, TEMPORARILY CLOSES
https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/entertainment/dining/2020/02/26/wing-guru-bartlett-fire-temporarily-closed/4884817002/
Tags: us_TN, public, fire, response, cleaners

The Wing Guru location at 7199 Stage Road in Bartlett is temporarily closed.

On Tuesday night, the restaurant suffered damage from a small fire. The restaurant hopes to reopen sometime next week.

According to a company spokesperson, the cause of the fire was chemical combustion of towels from the laundromat. The towels were stored in the bag they came in from the cleaners in a warm area, and it is thought that they caught fire due to the cleaning solution they were washed in.

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UNIT COMMENDATION FOR COURAGE PRESENTED TO YOUNG FIRE AND RESCUE NSW
https://www.youngwitness.com.au/story/6649490/unit-commendation-for-courage-presented-to-young-fire-and-rescue-nsw/
Tags: Australia, industrial, follow-up, environmental, sodium_hydroxide

Young's Fire and Rescue NSW team has received a unit commendation for courageous action at a chemical fire at a solar thermal power station at Jemalong, near Forbes five years ago.

Chief Superintendent Greg Buckley, Fire and Rescue NSW's Southern NSW Commander, visited the station on Tuesday night to present the unit commendation, as well four individual commendations to firefighters who responded to the incident on June 30, 2015.

On arrival at the incident, firefighters were faced with a tank containing 120,000l of leaking liquid sodium spilling and igniting in contact with the air.

This caused crystallised caustic soda to form on the base of the tank and pipe work.

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TPC GROUP EXPLOSION DEMONSTRATES VULNERABILITY OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS SCHOOLS NEAR PETROCHEMICAL PLANTS
https://www.12newsnow.com/article/news/investigations/tpc-group-explosion-demonstrates-vulnerability-of-southeast-texas-schools-near-petrochemical-plants/502-c0490257-ef41-4723-8c63-362bf07b542f
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental

PORT NECHES, Texas ‰?? Three months after the TPC group explosion in Port Neches some residents still worry about more explosions and wonder what would have happened if the explosion was 12 hours earlier while schools were in session.

Even though an explosion the magnitude the one at the TPC plant is rare its proximity to several schools showed just how vulnerable classrooms near industry can be.

Residents were rocked from a sound sleep just before 1 a.m. on November 27, 2019, by the explosion that blew out windows and front doors in nearby neighborhoods.

Security and doorbell cameras all over town captured the huge fireball that lit up the early-morning sky in Port Neches.

The explosion followed by a fire that burned for hours along with a second explosion that afternoon sent chills down the spines of residents across Mid-County.

"I'm scared to death that thing is going to explode one more time," said Terri Gunter, a Port Neches resident.

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