“What’s the point?” of the meeting, residents asked. The responses from agency representatives drew sarcastic laughter and shouts from the audience. Many said they struggled to breathe and experienced severe headaches, heart problems and coughed up blood.ĭuring Thursday’s hearing, held in Deer Park High School’s auditorium, residents asked the TCEQ representatives questions about ITC’s previous violations and often received “I don’t know” as a response. Scientists who have studied the ITC fire say officials should have used a lower threshold to warn the public and that more precautions, including shelter-in-place warnings, should have been taken during the incident to protect public health.ĭays after the 2019 fire started, hundreds of residents sought medical treatment. Environmental Protection Agency revealed that on at least seven different days after the last public warning to stay indoors, benzene levels spiked higher than the threshold that officials had chosen to issue public warnings - including one day when spikes were detected in Deer Park neighborhoods. The investigation found that benzene emissions reached dangerous levels in Deer Park weeks after the fire was extinguished. The facility stores and distributes hazardous chemicals, gases and petroleum products for the thousands of chemical plants and refineries lining the Houston Ship Channel. “I hope you make the right decision,” she said.Ī recent investigation by The Texas Tribune and Public Health Watch revealed that for years before the 2019 fire, federal and state regulators documented repeated problems but did little to address them. ![]() She is suing ITC and blames the benzene in the air for her son’s sickness. Tracy Cook Schmidt, who lives about 2 miles from the facility, told ITC officials they “will answer to God” for her son’s leukemia. Some who testified said the 2019 fire should be enough evidence for Texas regulators to deny the facility’s permit. ![]() The fire burned for four days and benzene, a cancer-causing chemical, was released into the air.Īt a tense hearing in Deer Park, residents told representatives of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that high levels of benzene in the air severely impacted their health and the health of workers nearby. The fire spread quickly from tank to tank, sending an enormous black smoke plume over the Houston area. Texas environmental regulators heard from dozens of Texans on Thursday night who asked them to reject a Houston-area chemical tank farm’s federal operating permit, fearing a repeat of a massive 2019 chemical fire at the facility.įour years ago, a group of chemical tanks at Intercontinental Terminals Company facility in Deer Park caught fire after a tank’s pump failed and began to leak naphtha, a highly flammable liquid. Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
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