crossposted from unbossed
In August 2008, an explosion rocked a chemical plant in Institute, West Virginia. It killed two plant employees and raised fears of local residents, who had cause to worry. The Bayer CropScience plant there is reportedly the twin of the Union Carbide facility in Bhopal, India that killed thousands in the aftermath of a toxic chemical leak in 1984, one of the worst industrial accidents in history.
~ from On the Media
Most of us may already have forgotten the explosion and fire last August 28, 2008 in the Bayer CropScience chemical plan in Institute, West Virginia. But the truly explosive testimony last week on April 21, 2009 before the Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations brings it all back. Indeed, revelations in just the opening statement by Rep. Bart Stupak are just jaw dropping.
You will see methyl isocyanate (MIC) discussed below. FYI, this is how the EPA describes MIC.
Methyl isocyanate is used to produce carbamate pesticides. Methyl isocyanate is extremely toxic to humans from acute (short-term) exposure. In Bhopal, India, accidental acute inhalation exposure to methyl isocyanate resulted in the deaths of about 3,800 people and adverse health effects in greater than 170,000 survivors. Pulmonary edema was the probable cause of death in most cases, with many deaths resulting from secondary respiratory infections. Survivors continue to exhibit damage to the lungs and eyes. Reproductive effects and increased number of stillbirths and spontaneous abortions were noted in the survivors of the Bhopal, India accident. EPA has classified methyl isocyanate as a Group D, not classifiable as to human carcinogenicity.
This 30 minute video, especially after 15 minutes, will show you the extent of the destruction.
In the aftermath of the explosion, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board announced it would get to the bottom of the cause of the explosion. . . . .
Then, somewhere along the way, it announced that it was unable to do so. Again, from On the Media:
. . . just as it was about to release the first phase of its findings at a public forum, the board was instructed not to disclose at all. Bayer had invoked a seldom-if-ever-used part of the post-9/11 antiterrorism law claiming that details of the explosion are, quote, "sensitive security information." Thus the Feds have been muzzled, at least in part, by their own law.
The head of CSHIB explained what happened then:
BOB GARFIELD: And along comes Bayer CropScience and its lawyers to say what?
JOHN BRESLAND: They came along and said, we have supplied a lot of information to you. You as a government agency have the right to receive that information.
However, the Coast Guard has told them that that information, under the Maritime Transportation Safety Act, is called sensitive security information and cannot be disclosed to the public.
BOB GARFIELD: [LAUGHS] And you said, the Maritime, what, who? Coast Guard, what? Had you ever heard of this thing before?
JOHN BRESLAND: Well, we knew that since 9/11 a couple of different things have happened. One MTSA had been passed, but we didn't pay much attention to it. It wasn't something that really enters into any of our thinking when we're doing investigations.
BOB GARFIELD: But Bayer said it was relevant because their facility has a dock on the Kanawha River there and, therefore, qualifies under Coast Guard jurisdiction.
JOHN BRESLAND: Correct. And they went to the Coast Guard, and the Coast Guard, according to Bayer, agreed with them. And Bayer then came to us and said, if you go to the public meetings there’s certain information that you cannot disclose.
So these events led to an Congressional investigatory hearing a week ago.
Here are some excerpts from the Opening Statement of Rep. Bart Stupak, Chairman
The story about the explosion, danger, and destruction - which were stunning - are dwarfed by the lawlessness of the company in hiding safety information, information that was necessary to protect the workers and the town.
Immediately after the explosion, local emergency responders tried to obtain crucial information from Bayer representatives, information that was essential to determine how best to protect the public and their own personnel from possible chemical contamination. For example, the emergency responders were trying to determine whether to order the community "shelter in place," which is to stay in their homes with doors and windows closed. A "shelter in place" order must be announced soon after a chemical release in order to be effective. The fire department in Nitro, West Virginia, reported:
[W]e have a cloud of some type that is dark, it’s moving more towards Nitro, can you please try to get some information so you can tell us what it is?
Bayer rebuffed the emergency responders’ efforts to obtain information about the explosion. When the 911 dispatcher asked the company to confirm whether the explosion took place in the Larvin Unit, which contains toxic chemicals, Bayer responded:
No that’s all. I’m only allowed to tell you that we have an emergency in the plant.
At least six state and local emergency responders were denied entry to the plant to investigate the explosion. As Kent Carper, the President of the Kanawah County Commission wrote to Bayer a week after the explosion:
Metro 911 repeatedly asked for information and was refused. ... This was a complete abdication of Bayer’s responsibility to your neighbors and our first responders, who were sent uninformed to an explosion because no one was "allowed" to inform us.
It was not just a matter of stonewalling. The company tried to use secrecy laws and fears about terrorism to hide misdeeds from public revelation.
William Buckner, the President and CEO of Bayer CropScience, says in his written testimony for today’s hearing that Bayer invoked SSI out of:
a desire to limit negative publicity generally about the company or the Institute facility, to avoid public pressure to reduce the volume of MIC that is produced and stored at Institute by changing to alternative technologies.
In one document Bayer produced to the Subcommittee, company counsel instructed that the assertion of Sensitive Security Information should be "liberal" and should "strike any references to any piece of equipment, piping, or document involving" MIC or Chlorine, a process that resulted in the marking of thousands of pages of documents.
In addition, Bayer took other steps to hide its misconduct. It made hid evidence and made certain records could not be created.
• Bayer removed and destroyed the "blast blanket" that surrounded the MIC tank, pictured here with visible damage. The whereabouts of this important piece of evidence is now unknown.
• Air monitoring devices designed to determine whether MIC has been released into the air were not operational on the night of the explosion.
• Videocameras positioned to capture the site of explosion did not record the time period of the explosion because they had been disconnected from the recording unit.
Much, much more is available at the hearing website.
The hearing title was: "Secrecy in the Response to Bayer’s Fatal Chemical Plant Explosion". Now it is secret no more, but it is still just as explosive.
April 28 is Workers Memorial Day - honoring those injured or killed on the job - and dedicating ourselves to ensuring it never happens again.