From: CHAS membership chair <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (7 articles)
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2021 07:36:07 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID: 1901FE00-ADB5-49CD-9486-2FD466975FB2**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 7:35:53 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 (7 articles)

GFFR RELEASES DETAILS ABOUT CHLORINE GAS LEAK AT MALTEUROP
Tags: us_mt, industrial, release, response, chlorine

ROAD REOPENED AFTER HAZMAT CREWS RESPOND TO ‰??LARGE‰?? GAS LINE BREAK IN AURORA
Tags: us_co, transportation, release, response, natural_gas

HAZMAT WATER LEAK REPORTED BY VALERO BENICIA REFINERY
Tags: us_ca, industrial, release, response, petroleum

LEBANON: INTERPOL ISSUES WARRANTS FOR PEOPLE INVOLVED IN BEIRUT PORT EXPLOSION
Tags: lebanon, industrial, follow-up, enviromental

SIX INJURED BY LEAK AT LG DISPLAY PLANT IN S.KOREA, SAYS FIRE OFFICIAL
Tags: Republic_of_Korea, industrial, release, injuries, toxic

PFAS EXPOSURE FOUND TO INCREASE RISK OF SEVERE COVID-19
Tags: us, public, discovery, environmental, chemicals

INCOMING U.S. CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD ADVISOR SAYS PREPARING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE A TOP PRIORITY
Tags: us, industrial, discovery, enviromental


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GFFR RELEASES DETAILS ABOUT CHLORINE GAS LEAK AT MALTEUROP
https://www.krtv.com/news/great-falls-news/gffr-releases-details-about-chlorine-gas-leak-at-malteurop
Tags: us_mt, industrial, release, response, chlorine

GREAT FALLS ‰?? Great Falls Fire Rescue has released details about Monday's chlorine leak at Malteurop. There were no injuries, and a faulty chlorine bottle and regulator is suspected to have caused the problem.

GFFR said in a news release that units were dispatched after a facility detection system identified the leak. Malteurop has two 150-pound chlorine cylinders on site that are stored in a cabinet on the outside of the main building. Piping from the cylinders transports the chlorine into the adjoining building. The chlorine is used to remove E.coli and other contaminants from the spring water that is piped in from Giant Springs. After chlorine is added to the water it sits in cisterns for a period of time until it is deemed safe to use for their manufacturing purposes.

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ROAD REOPENED AFTER HAZMAT CREWS RESPOND TO ‰??LARGE‰?? GAS LINE BREAK IN AURORA
https://kdvr.com/news/local/hazmat-crews-responding-to-large-gas-line-break-in-aurora-evacuations-in-place/
Tags: us_co, transportation, release, response, natural_gas

AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) ‰?? Crews responded Tuesday afternoon to a natural gas line break in Aurora.

According to Aurora Fire Rescue, the break occurred near the intersection of East 57th Avenue and North Dunkirk Street. The area is about 3 miles southwest of Denver International Airport.

Residents in the immediate area were evacuated from their homes.

AFR described the break as ‰??large.‰??

Hazardous materials (hazmat) crews with Xcel Energy responded to the scene and established a protection line, AFR said.

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HAZMAT WATER LEAK REPORTED BY VALERO BENICIA REFINERY
https://patch.com/california/benicia/hazmat-water-leak-reported-valero-benicia-refinery
Tags: us_ca, industrial, release, response, petroleum

BENICIA, CA ‰?? The Valero Benicia Refinery reported a leak Tuesday morning in the effluent line to its wastewater treatment plant. The line runs parallel to Sulpher Springs Creek but as of 11 a.m., no hazardous materials were flowing into the water, officials with the Benicia Fire Department said.

The refinery notified city fire officials about the leak shortly after 7 a.m. Tuesday.

In an email alert sent at 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, the Benicia Fire Department said the leak was stopped and proper procedures such as cleanup, notifications and mitigation were taking place.

"There is no threat to public safety," city fire officials said. "Fire personnel will continue to monitor the situation and will update the public if conditions change."

According to a hazardous material spill update posted by the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, someone from the refinery called state officials at 6:34 a.m. Tuesday to report a leak had developed in the water treating line.

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"Caller stated that the water treating line has developed a leak. The line is 95 to 99 percent water but can contain a small amount of hydrocarbon run-off from the plant. They are seeing small sheens on the water and they are in the process of diverting the flow out of the line. The material is impacting Sulphur Springs Creek. Boom has been deployed and a vacuum truck is on scene removing the material they can see."

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LEBANON: INTERPOL ISSUES WARRANTS FOR PEOPLE INVOLVED IN BEIRUT PORT EXPLOSION
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2021/01/lebanon-interpol-red-notice-owner-captain-ship-beirut-blast.html
Tags: lebanon, industrial, follow-up, enviromental

The Lebanese government said on Tuesday that Interpol has issued requests for the detainment of three men allegedly involved with the chemical supply that exploded in Beirut‰??s port last year.
The state-run National News Agency reported that the International Criminal Police Organization, as it is also known, issued Red Notices for the Russian captain and the Russian owner of the ship that reportedly brought 2,750 tons of the flammable fertilizer ammonium nitrate to Beirut‰??s port in 2013. They also issued a notice for a Portuguese merchant who discovered the nitrate in a Beirut warehouse in 2014, according to the agency.

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SIX INJURED BY LEAK AT LG DISPLAY PLANT IN S.KOREA, SAYS FIRE OFFICIAL
https://www.reuters.com/article/lg-display-accident/six-injured-by-leak-at-lg-display-plant-in-skorea-says-fire-official-idUSL4N2JO1MJ
Tags: Republic_of_Korea, industrial, release, injuries, toxic

SEOUL, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Six workers were injured on Wednesday due to a chemical leak at LG Display Co‰??s factory in South Korea, an official at a local fire station said.

LG Display, which supplies mobile displays to Apple Inc. , said it was looking into the cause of the accident at its plant in the city of Paju, which borders North Korea, 55 km (34 miles) north of Seoul.

The company did not comment on any injuries or say if production was affected.

‰??The leaked chemical is suspected to be tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide, which is highly toxic,‰?? an official at Paju Fire Station said, saying six people were injured and taken to hospital.

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PFAS EXPOSURE FOUND TO INCREASE RISK OF SEVERE COVID-19
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/pfas-exposure-found-to-increase-risk-of-severe-covid-19/4012992.article
Tags: us, public, discovery, environmental, chemicals

Toxicologists are expressing concern that exposure to per- or poly-fluorinated substances (PFASs) can increase a person‰??s likelihood of developing severe Covid-19. There are also warning that PFASs could also diminish the effectiveness of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

A number of studies in the scientific literature have now linked elevated PFAS levels with immune system suppression, as well as decreased response to vaccines. Philippe Grandjean, an adjunct environmental health professor at Harvard University, and colleagues have found that higher levels of the PFAS perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) in the blood are associated with increased severity of Covid-19 infections.

PFBA, a breakdown product of other PFAS chemicals, is known to accumulate in the lungs more than any other compounds in its class. It is a short four carbon PFAS with a half-life of three to four days, compared with two to three years for long-chain PFASs like perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS).

Grandjean‰??s team analysed blood samples from 323 Covid-19 patients in Denmark, and found that those with high PFBA serum levels were more than twice as likely to develop a severe form of the disease. Overall, patients with elevated PFBA had a higher chance of being hospitalised, entering intensive care and dying than those with lower levels.

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INCOMING U.S. CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD ADVISOR SAYS PREPARING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE A TOP PRIORITY
https://www.wwno.org/post/incoming-us-chemical-safety-board-advisor-says-preparing-climate-change-top-priority-0
Tags: us, industrial, discovery, enviromental

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board will make preparing for the threat of climate change a priority in its recommendations on how to make industrial facilities safer, said David LaCerte, the newly appointed senior advisor to the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, or CSB.

LaCerte, a Louisiana native was appointed on Jan. 12 by the CSB. He said an active hurricane season in the state coupled with Southerly and WWNO/WRKF‰??s report emphasized the need to adopt safety measures to prevent a double disaster: a hurricane followed by a toxic release or chemical explosion.

‰??The reporting that was done highlighting the sheer number of facilities that are localized in Louisiana that might have a catastrophic impact should a failure occur,‰?? LaCerte said. ‰??It's definitely something that all of our leaders should be concerned with.‰??

The CSB is an independent, nonregulatory federal agency that investigates industrial chemical accidents from stationary sources. Established by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the CSB determines the causes for industrial accidents and recommends how to prevent them in the future. These recommendations have informed state and federal policy.

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