From: Ralph Stuart <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (8 articles)
Date: Wed, 26 May 2021 06:28:22 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID: 7CFC2502-130A-42C9-A71F-B67E7F4EC968**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 6:27:52 AM

A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Connecting Chemistry and Safety at http://www.dchas.org
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas

Table of Contents (8 articles)

JFRD RESPONDING TO BROKEN GAS LINE IN RIVERSIDE NEIGHBORHOOD
Tags: us_FL, public, release, response, natural_gas

CHEMICALS: 'TICKING TIME BOMB': CANCER RISKS STALK FIREFIGHTERS -- TUESDAY, MAY 25, 2021 -- WWW.EENEWS.NET
Tags: us_OH, industrial, discovery, environmental, unknown_chemical

FINDINGS SHOW 2019 TANK FIRE EXPLOSION IN CROCKETT WAS DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN
Tags: us_CA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, ethanol

INCHI VERSION 1.06: NOW MORE THAN 99.99% RELIABLE
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental

2 TREATED AT HOSPITAL AFTER HAZMAT SPILL AT WEST SIDE BUSINESS
Tags: us_IN, industrial, release, injury, ammonia

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS FIRE AT AKRON COATING AND ADHESIVES
Tags: us_OH, industrial, explosion, response, adhesives, paints

SELKIRK PLASTICS PLANT FACES $41K FINE OVER SEPTEMBER CHEMICAL LEAK
Tags: us_NY, transportation, follow-up, response, plastics, styrene

TRUMP OFFICIALS CHANGED SCIENTIFIC ANALYSES IN PESTICIDE REAPPROVAL: EPA WATCHDOG
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, pesticides


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JFRD RESPONDING TO BROKEN GAS LINE IN RIVERSIDE NEIGHBORHOOD
https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/hazmat-responding-to-broken-gas-line-in-riverside-area-jacksonville-fire-rescue-department-jfrd/77-f3b74fe6-2f3c-4e92-a4bb-51a4a454b0d5
Tags: us_FL, public, release, response, natural_gas

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ‰?? HAZMAT crews responded to a broken gas line in Jacksonville's Riverside area, according to the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department.
The broken gas line was in the 1600 block of Stockton Street, the JFRD said.
The incident prompted multiple road closures as crews worked to repair the damaged line. Those roads have since reopened.

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CHEMICALS: 'TICKING TIME BOMB': CANCER RISKS STALK FIREFIGHTERS -- TUESDAY, MAY 25, 2021 -- WWW.EENEWS.NET
https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063733343
Tags: us_OH, industrial, discovery, environmental, unknown_chemical

He knew it was coming.

Having spent half of his 20-year career educating other firefighters about how to protect themselves from toxic smoke on the job, Jim Burneka wasn't surprised to hear he had thyroid cancer last month.

"I've known for a while that it wasn't a matter of if, but when," he said. "I know I've been a ticking time bomb."

The chemical cocktail inhaled or absorbed into skin while battling blazes gives the nation's roughly 400,000 career firefighters a 9% greater chance of being diagnosed with cancer and a 14% greater chance of dying from it than the general population, making cancer the top cause of line-of-duty death in the fire service.

Perhaps no one knows that better than Burneka, 41, a member of the Dayton Firefighters Local 136 who 10 years ago started his own cancer consulting business to educate other firefighters about the risks of the job. He also hosts a podcast, "The 25 Live," distributed by the nation's largest fire magazine, Fire Engineering.

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FINDINGS SHOW 2019 TANK FIRE EXPLOSION IN CROCKETT WAS DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN
https://www.ktvu.com/news/findings-show-2019-tank-fire-explosion-in-crockett-was-disaster-waiting-to-happen
Tags: us_CA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, ethanol

CROCKETT, Calif. - The double explosion of two chemical tanks back in October of 2019 in Crockett that resulted in a 15-acre fire, scared a lot of people and set off a year-plus investigation.

In a 525-page scathing and damning report published on Tuesday, federal, state, and local investigators found that the NuStar tank explosions and fire were a disaster waiting to happen.

Static electricity build-up or a spark in one tank that was due to improper grounding are the most likely causes of the first tank, which contained ethyl alcohol, to explode. When the roof blew off that tank, it landed on a neighboring tank causing a second explosion.

Federal investigators join probe of fire at fuel storage facility in Crockett
Fire crews work to make sure flames at NuStar Energy plant in Crockett don't reignite.

"It seems they had a lot to cover up," said Crockett resident Ed Tannenbaum, who is also a member of the publicly set up Fenceline Monitoring Committee, a citizens group that closely the refinery next door.

"I'm a little bit afraid of this company right now," said Tannenbaum.

The reason for his concern is found in a report issued by a joint commission of Contra Costa agencies.

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INCHI VERSION 1.06: NOW MORE THAN 99.99% RELIABLE
https://jcheminf.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13321-021-00517-z
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental

The software for the IUPAC Chemical Identifier, InChI, is extraordinarily reliable. It has been tested on large databases around the world, and has proved itself to be an essential tool in the handling and integration of large chemical databases. InChI version 1.05 was released in January 2017 and version 1.06 in December 2020. In this paper, we report on the current state of the InChI Software, the details of the improvements in the v1.06 release, and the results of a test of the InChI run on PubChem, a database of more than a hundred million molecules. The upgrade introduces significant new features, including support for pseudo-element atoms and an improved description of polymers. We expect that few, if any, applications using the standard InChI will need to change as a result of the changes in version 1.06. Numerical instability was discovered for 0.002% of this database, and a small number of other molecules were discovered for which the algorithm did not run smoothly.!
On the basis of PubChem data, we can demonstrate that InChI version 1.05 was 99.996% accurate, and InChI version 1.06 represents a step closer to perfection. Finally, we look forward to future releases and extensions for the InChI Chemical identifier.

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2 TREATED AT HOSPITAL AFTER HAZMAT SPILL AT WEST SIDE BUSINESS
https://www.wthr.com/article/news/2-treated-at-hospital-after-hazmat-spill-at-west-side-business/531-d2134fbb-af4c-4097-a2a8-78abc6d2cb47
Tags: us_IN, industrial, release, injury, ammonia

INDIANAPOLIS ‰?? Two people are being treated after an anhydrous ammonia leak at a southwest side business.
The Wayne Township Fire Department said the leak was reported around 2:15 p.m. at Micronutrients.
Micronutrients is in the 1500 block of Research Way.
Medics transported two employees to IU Health Methodist Hospital for treatment.

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HAZARDOUS MATERIALS FIRE AT AKRON COATING AND ADHESIVES
https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/akron/crews-battle-hazardous-materials-fire-akron-coating-adhesives/95-aadb52d8-c04e-489e-95f8-0619f2ac8336
Tags: us_OH, industrial, explosion, response, adhesives, paints

AKRON, Ohio ‰?? Firefighters in Akron battled a hazardous materials fire on Monday evening.
The fire took place at Akron Coating and Adhesive Inc. on Stanton Road.
According to the Akron Fire Department, a call came with a report of possible explosions with heavy black smoke at around 8:40 p.m. Shortly after 9:00 p.m., the situation was upgraded to a 2nd alarm fire.

Crews attempted to keep the area clear as they battled the flames during the evening. A perimeter was set up and authorities also evacuated two or three nearby homes.

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SELKIRK PLASTICS PLANT FACES $41K FINE OVER SEPTEMBER CHEMICAL LEAK
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Selkirk-plastics-plant-faces-nearly-41-000-fine-16199808.php
Tags: us_NY, transportation, follow-up, response, plastics, styrene

SELKIRK ‰?? SABIC Innovative Chemicals is facing a nearly $41,000 fine from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regarding last September‰??s leak of styrene gas from a rail car at the plastics factory. The leak resulted in a shutdown of local roads with orders for people within a half mile to shelter in place until it was contained by fire crews, who spent hours hosing down the car until a faulty valve was sealed.

Prior to the incident, SABIC "did not develop written operating procedures with clear instructions for movement and storage of styrene monomer railcars ... exposing employees to toxic, fire, and explosion hazards,‰?? reads part of the citation, which falls under OSHA‰??s category of ‰??serious‰?? violations.

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TRUMP OFFICIALS CHANGED SCIENTIFIC ANALYSES IN PESTICIDE REAPPROVAL: EPA WATCHDOG
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/555174-trump-epa-changed-scientific-analyses-pesticide-re-approval-watchdog
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, pesticides

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists told the agency‰??s internal watchdog that scientific analyses were changed in favor of top officials‰?? policy choices in the 2018 reapproval of a pesticide, according to a new report.

The inspector general's office said in a report published Monday that scientists in the Office of Pesticide Programs gave examples of such actions in interviews in the reapproval of the pesticide dicamba.

Multiple scientists said and emails also showed that after a senior management review, the assistant administrator‰??s office gave scientists an outline for rewriting an impact analysis document that removed several sections of the original, the watchdog said.

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