Burning Houston chemical plant successfully lobbied Trump to strike down safety rules

[Miles Archer]

Burning Houston chemical plant successfully lobbied Trump to strike down safety rules



http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/revealed-burning-houston-chemical-plant-successfully-lobbied-trump-to-strike-down-safety-rules/

Arkema, the company that owns the chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, that suffered at least two separate explosions on Thursday, successfully lobbied the Trump administration to delay new safety rules for chemical plants that were due to take effect this year.

The International Business Times reports that Obama-era regulations of chemical plants that were supposed to take effect this past March 14 “were halted by the Trump administration after a furious lobbying campaign by plant owner Arkema and its affiliated trade association, the American Chemistry Council, which represents a chemical industry that has poured tens of millions of dollars into federal elections.”

In killing the new rules, the industry had the help of several Texas Republican lawmakers, including Sen. John Cornyn, Rep. Joe Barton, Rep. Pete Olson, Rep. Pete Sessions and Rep. Kevin Brady. Democratic Texas Rep. Gene Green also lobbied to have the new regulations killed.

Arkema directly objected to the new proposed rules in a letter it sent to the EPA this past May, in which it said the rules “will likely add significant new costs and burdens to the corporate audit process.”

[Warpy]

1. So far, it doesn't look that terible

It looks like residual chemicals ruptured a pipe and caught fire. The main event hasn't happened and I hope power is restored quickly enough that it doesn't. My guess is that it's a top priority at this point.

There's a lot of absolute crap on YouTube at this point, but this was vetted by the BBC as legit:

Sorry, no explosion, just burning pipes.

[trof]

2. K&R

[50 Shades Of Blue]

3. Fuckers!

[Scurrilous]

4. K&R

[Achilleaze]

5. Republican values are totally destroying America

No honor, no integrity, no concern for the welfare of the American people. Disgusting.

[mountain grammy]

6. FREEDUMB!!!

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Just hope no tax payer money goes to rebuilding the plant.

[Igel]

10. The video's better than the article.

Look near the end to see what "the plant" is. The damage from the "explosions" (which were pressure seals popping) is slight and from the fire, well confined. The chemicals were kept in trailers, and as of mid-afternoon today not all of them had even failed. Something like three had "exploded". I have to assume some of the trailers were in the shed that a few are taking to be the entirety of the plant. Low expectations of Texas manufacturing facilities, I guess.

They haven't said what the chemicals were (besides organic peroxides) but they've said the smoke isn't toxic, so if they're telling the truth my yesterday's guess that it was anhydrous benzoyl peroxide is off--or the containment vessels ensure fairly complete combustion of the benzoyl radical, which I find unlikely.

It's unclear what the rule, had it taken effect, would have done for this plant. (I think it's sort of an important point. The presumption is that the rule would have helped prevent or mitigate this catastrophe. If it wouldn't, then opposition to the rule becomes irrelevant, except to show attitude and thinking, not actions and consequences.) The "rule" is 112 pages long and at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-01-13/pdf/2016-31426.pdf .

The Twitter-like summary is that it requires an outside safety and procedures audit, obligatory finding of internal, management-related "root causes" of any accidents or releases; field exercises; and public statement of what's on the premises. I don't see how anything in the rule would have assisted in this case because I doubt anybody would have planned for this event. Local authorities have been told what's there.

I find much of the explanation of what the rules entail troubling, to be honest (and that's just reading the rule, I don't bother with second, third, and fourth-hand reports when the original document's so easily accessible). It's a tort lawyer's wet dream.

[Equinox Moon]

8. I heard this is a French company.

They spend literally millions lobbying on their behalf.

Question: Millions on lobbying. What are they doing? People in congress only have so many ears and so much time.

[BigmanPigman]

9. So many regulations and policies have been "disappearing"

since Jan while we have been "distracted" with treason.