General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums60,000 evacuated in Texas in chemical plant explosion
Tens of thousands of people in Port Neches and surrounding areas have been forced from their homes by an explosion and toxic gas.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/explosion-texas-plant-port-neches-chemical-plant-texas-tcp-fire-lanxess-charleston-south-carolina-emergency-today/
60,000 people forced to evacuate after explosions at Texas chemical plant
Also, Randy Weber, their elected Congressional representative, has this to say:
Link to tweet
?s=20
IcyPeas
(21,893 posts)to see the explosion and how powerful it was.
it's like the third video down in the above article.
geez 60,000 people.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,862 posts)are fairly routine in Texas.
More to the point, where the hell is the oversight needed to prevent things like this from happening?
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,862 posts)I'm sure you mean "We don't need no stinking regulations".
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)The_jackalope
(1,660 posts)No Marxist lessons in the workplace
Leave those billionaires alone...
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Igel
(35,320 posts)it's hard to say.
When I was a kid there was an explosion at an air products plant. It killed 6 men. It rattled the windows of the elementary school where I was, a few kids ducked and covered. Later in the day, some kids in the school were called to the office. Only when they were safely off campus did the principal say what the cause was. They'd felt the shock from the explosion that killed their dads. Nothing chemically dangerous involved. They'd just compress air, cool it, pull out what condensed. Then they'd release the pressure and watch more stuff liquify. Rinse, repeat.
Bethlehem Steel had similar kinds of things go wrong. Industry is not as safe as an office or retail.
Texas has two things for/against it. It's damned big. The 2013 fertilizer explosion and this one were 270 miles apart. It's about 180 miles from Baltimore to NYC. Beaumont to Baytown's only 60, so size is only part of the problem.
The second thing is the huge petrochemical industry. The Texas coast is where a lot of the oil from the entire country gets sent. It's where a lot of the oil from other countries gets sent--sometimes for refining and export, sometimes for refining. (We may have zero net oil imports, but some oil leaves the US and some has to enter to make it balance.)
After you're done with extracting gasoline, there's a whole petrochemical industry, from Corpus Christi over to Orange, just waiting to do something with what's left. Make plastics for your water bottles? Check. Make isopropanol for your rubbing alcohol? Sure. More exotic chemicals? Absolutely. And other industries depend on the easy access to energy for non-petrochemical production.
TexasTowelie
(112,252 posts)Iliyah
(25,111 posts)Oh my, what a horrible Thanksgiving. Toxic air, I hope their homes are ok.
sandensea
(21,639 posts)Of course though, the same ones who like to caterwaul against "gummint regulations" are always the first in line for federal assistance.
While their congresscritters - like Randy Weber - shamelessly vote against aid to New Jersey and New York after a hurricane.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Holy crap.