Flooded chemical plant near Houston now has "black plume of smoke."

[ProfessorGAC]

56. That's Not What I Asked

And i think you know it.

I said what would regulations have done to make it different.

1. You really think that regulators were going to be able to anticipate a flood so bad that an industrial diesel generator would be completely submerged in water? Regulators and rules writers don't have crystal balls or time machines.

2. They did disclose to the authorities. A stupid twist in Texas law said they didn't have to disclose to the public but first responders would have access to the R-T-K filings required be federal law.

3. Not a chemist, are you?

4. I am not now, nor was i before, defending the company or the CEO.

I am asking how a lax regulatory environment contriubuted to this. California hardly is lax in this arena, (i've done work in chem plants there) and there is no way to provide a contingency for every possible event should a quake hit.

Could the company have done better? Probably. Did the relaxed standards under the Texas state government contribute significantly to this specific instance. I think no. When Texas City happened and those people got killed, then the lax regulatory structure was to blame.

Not this time.