Good evening! Grandpoppy's feasted like a King with a plate loaded up with his favorite foods. The main course of chicken fried pork steak and its browned crispy coating laid smothered in country style milk gravy. A buttery pile of creamy mashed potatoes adorned the 12 o'clock position on his plate, while a hearty helping of green beans mixed with sauteed onions and a generous sprinkle of crispy fried bacon bits rested on top. Tall glasses of Lipton iced tea complimented our late dinner and Grandpoppy's approval.
There was a published article earlier today, about the Arkema Chemical plant in Crosby, Texas. It cautiously warned of another disaster teetering on the precipice of time, simply waiting to happen.
In fact, this evening, Rachel Maddow even discussed this looming explosion in the offing. Just when so many Texans are feeling the most vulnerable after the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey. The evacuees are being informed of the possibility of another impending catastrophe looming, at their doorstep. The only question remaining is "when", not "if ".
Trump has already made budget cuts to so many governmental services and departments, like FEMA and the EPA. When this expected and highly anticipated explosion occurs, blowing the small town of Crosby,TX off the map, who will be responsible for the the residual cleanup and disaster relief? Who will oversee the cleanup? How will this new disaster after the last Texas-size disaster be handled? Many Texans are anxiously throwing their hands up in the air asking, "What's next?"
Our Texas brothers and sisters...you remain in our prayers tonight.
"Good Night!" and "Sweet Dreams!"
"Boner Appertite!"
Chemical plant struck by Harvey now apt to explode
By Matt Dempsey
Updated 5:25 pm, Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Crosby fire officials are bracing for an explosion at the Arkema chemical plant in the city where floodwaters have knocked out power and generators needed to keep volatile chemicals stored at the facility cool.
All employees of the plant at 18000 Crosby Eastgate Road were evacuated late Tuesday, as were resident from about 300 homes within a mile and a half of the plant.
At a press conference Wednesday, Rich Rowe, Arkema's CEO said that if the volatile organic peroxides stored at the plant get too warm, some sort of explosion is inevitable.
"There is no way to prevent an explosion or fire," Rowe said.
Late Monday night, the facility lost power from both its primary supply and its backup generators. Employees moved the highly volatile organic peroxides into back-up containers to keep them cool. If that class of chemical gets too hot, it can cause fires or explosions.
The Crosby Fire Department evacuated its last employee Tuesday night. Eleven other staff members had been evacuated during the afternoon when the refrigeration in some of the back-up containers also started to fail.
Once government officials saw the chemical inventories for the facility, they ordered the evacuation of nearby resident.
Tammy Peek is one of those evacuees. She lambasted the company Wednesday morning in a series of tweets, questioning why it warn people as soon as its plant lost power.
"You have put our lives in jeopardy," Peek posted.
On Wednesday Rowe apologized to the people of Crosby for the threat posed by the facility and thanked emergency management and first responder officials for their help. He said while the company planned for a worst case scenario, and even brought on extra generators to account for any power loss, the magnitude of the storm overwhelmed the company's plan.
"It's impossible to predict with 100 percent confidence a situation like this," said Rowe. "No one anticipated six feet of water."
It would be surprising if Arkema had not considered a scenario like this, said Sam Mannan of Texas A&M University's Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center. Typically, companies can quench organic peroxides in situations like this by combining them with another chemical, eliminating the danger.
"You'll lose the feedstock, but it's safer than letting it go into runaway mode," Mannan said.
The plant has been shut down since Friday in anticipation of the storm.
The Arkema facility was among the Houston-area sites with the highest potential for harm in an incident, according to a 2016 analysis by the O'Connor Process Safety Center and the Houston Chronicle. That analysis factored risks based on the amount and type of dangerous chemicals on site and their proximity to the public.
It could be six days until the floodwaters at the Arkema plant recede enough for people to get access to the chemical stores. The company is able to see the temperatures of some of the freezer trailers but not all of them and has no ability to cool off the chemicals.
"Assuming there is a fire, you'll see a typical black smoke plume," said Rowe.
He downplayed any long-term impact or any toxic inhalation hazards from a fire or explosion at the plant, saying he was not aware of anything the public should be concerned about.
Rowe refused to release the company's federally mandated risk management plan or its chemical inventory to reporters.
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