State: Despite 1 million pounds of contamination, air OK
Published 4:01 pm Thursday, September 21, 2017
By Jesse Wright
Despite the appearance of some thick black smoke during a fire at Valero and despite admitting to releasing hundreds of thousands of pounds of contaminants on Tuesday, Texas officials say the air quality was not harmed.
Valero self-reported the estimated number of contaminants and according to their estimates, they released 135,710 pounds of carbon monoxide, 118,067 pounds of sulfur dioxide, 639,778 pounds of particulate, 128 pounds of hydrogen sulfide, 15,225 pounds of nitrogen dioxide and then another 58,162 pounds of unspecified contaminants.
The total nears nearly 1 million pounds of contamination.
Brian McGovern, a spokesperson for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, stressed that these numbers are estimates.
“An initial notification contains estimated emissions,” he wrote in an email. “Estimated emissions may be revised in the final notification (due two weeks from the end of the event) after the entity has fully evaluated the incident.”
So far though, the state is reporting the air to be fine.
“No elevated readings were detected in the neighborhoods by TCEQ or EPA investigators,” McGovern said. “The TCEQ will conduct an investigation after the final emissions event report is received from the facility. The initial emissions event report has been received and the final report is due within two weeks from the end of the event.”
However, McGovern also wrote that if a final notification is not received then the first notification serves as the final notification.
The fire, which broke out just before noon on Tuesday, was extinguished around 1:40 p.m. and the shelter in place was lifted at 2 p.m.
Barbara Phillips, a spokesperson for Valero, said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
No one was reported harmed or killed.
