BREAKING NEWS: Explosions Rock Bayer CropScience Plant in Institute

Source: The State Journal

BREAKING NEWS: Explosions Rock Bayer CropScience Plant in Institute
Posted Thursday, August 28, 2008 ; 11:20 PM
Updated Friday, August 29, 2008 ; 12:51 AM
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Multiple explosions at Bayer CropScience Plant rumble throughout institute, resulting in at least two injuries and one missing person.
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Story by Jon Bernard

INSTITUTE -- The Larvin Unit of the Bayer CropScience Plant in Institute experienced an explosion at approximately 10:40 p.m.

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A heavy fire can be seen for miles in the area.

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Interstate 64, Routes 25 and 60 has been closed in all direction.

There is a shelter-in-place for western Kanawha County at this time, including Institute, Nitro, South Charleston, St. Albans, and Cross Lanes.

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For more information, the public may contact the Emergency Operation Center at (304) 746-8828. The public is asked NOT to call 911.

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Read more: http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=43284

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DU'er Staph is near this - see her post in GD: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3875921

edit to add: the shelter in place is because toxic chemicals may have been released.

The students are under a shelter-in-place order (as are the rest of us), but they've been told that classes are not canceled for tomorrow!

Lived on campus 2 years. The chemical plant is right next to the university.

that nasty new pesticide they introduced in 2003 that there is now some lawsuit over releasing bee impact study data on.........starts with a "C"?

Sold under the brand name "Poncho". A lawsuit was filed August 19th by the Natural Resources Defense Council...in federal court against the EPA...to go after what is suspected to be data hidden in 2003 by EPA - at the time EPA approved use of clothianidin in the US (EPA approved it while at the same time "asking for further data").

France banned its use flat-out in 1999. Two Bayer top-dogs are being investigated by the Germans (taking place in Germany). As I understand it, BayerCropScience itself isn't the target of lawsuits at this time.

Clothianidin is a nerve agent used to coat seeds (thus the choice of "Poncho"?), protecting them from insects. But it becomes systemic, getting into all parts of the plant including pollen. BCS has made claims that when "used as directed" it's safe.

If clothianidin were found to be the cause of bee colony collapse I would find it a great relief. It can be eliminated, unlike many other suspected causes. The general population has NO CLUE what a disaster - worse than pandemic plagues - could ensue with the disappearance of pollinators. Honey bees seem to be the insect most in danger , but IMHO, they may well be the canaries.

It wouldn't surprise if the ecoterrorists have gone after them. Our own home grown group. But who knows. Maybe they just had a huge accident.

If it comes out that their lies about the safety of their product caused the deaths of millions and million of bees they could be facing some pretty serious charges. And they should be.

I wonder if this explosion was to cover up evidence. Bayer claims that there is no evidence of a connection between their chemical and bee colony deaths, but they refuse to release their own data. The EPA approved it a few years back and isn't answering questions either.

Cancer Alley.

I used to drive by there a couple of times a year.

They were bought out by Dow Chemical. The other plant site (besides Bhopal) that makes methyl isocyanate is this plant, now owned by Bayer.

The county emergency management team and some of the plant officials are speaking with the press, not far from the plant, so I'm guessing they are not worried about possible personal contamination (or they're blithering idiots). I'd give the blithering idiots option about 50% odds.

I knew UC was sold, but I didn't know Bayer owned the plant now.

My retired parents were thinking about buying a house in that area a couple of years ago. I talked them out of it.

We're a beautiful state, full of friendly people, and a low cost of living. Just steer them away from the Chemical Valley!

Chapmanville, in Logan County. Me and my dad scattered my mothers ashes back where she grew up back in April.

We lived and worked in Cleveland. He's in SC now. I'm in Florida.

not far from Scary.

Sounds nasty.

Possible chemicals involved:

Methomyl
http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/haloxyfop-methylparathion/methomyl-ext.html

and Thiodicarb - a pesticide, more hazardous than most chemicals, a listed carcinogen.

The thiodicarb section of the larvin unit is supposedly where the explosion originated.

http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/27642199.html

(Edited to update)

UPDATE @ 1:40am
Mike Ray with Bayer Crop Science is holding a news conference right now. He says the fire is still burning at this time, but it is contained to the area where the explosion happened.

Ray confirms that one man was burned and is being taken to a burn center in Pittsburgh. Another worker is still missing. Ray says both have worked with the company for some time.

Ray says a waste product appears to be what exploded. It's a very flammable product. Ray says it was NOT Larvin. He says the product released to the area after the explosion is not toxic.

Eight operators were working in the area where the explosion happened--six of them were in a safe area and were not hurt.

This is how one of those movies always start out that end up with killer, mutant beets taking over the world.

Or is that tomatoes?

Because nobody likes beets.

boiled beets with butter not so much.

during WWII everybody loved beet sugar as cane suger was rationed and you could have only so much per mo.

nt

...and a butt load of ranch dressing. Stat!

If that doesn't deserve a DUzy, I don't know what does!

I thought they used some sort of dairy in it

Just on pure speculation that some industrial company engaged in agricultural seed production (like Bayer or Monsanto) has a little accident in a laboratory producing experimental Genetically Modified Organisms, and the explosion releases some dangerous GMO into the atmosphere.

I am just speculating of course, we all know these companies would never let something like that happen.

this is from RSOE


Area: USA, State of West Virginia, Bayer CropScience Chemical Plant, Charleston

Description:

Thousands of residents near Charleston, West Virginia huddled inside their homes for several hours early Friday after a chemical plant explosion. The explosion occurred Thursday at the Bayer CropScience plant in the unincorporated Institution community of Kanawha County, West Virginia. A helicopter whisked one person to a burn center, and another person was also injured, said Carolyn Charnoch, director of the county's 911 system. Investigators continued to look for one person who was unaccounted for after the blast. The blast raised fears about the air quality in the area. The plant produces crop-protection chemicals. People like 38-year-old Jeannie Young of St. Albans, West Virginia, turned off air conditioners, closed vents and taped her window shut. "My daughter and I have headaches," she said. Young said she smelled something unusual and noticed something odd after taking her dogs -- Droopie, Peppers and Reggie -- out around 11 p.m. Thursday. "They acted really funny," she said. "They wanted to come right back in the house." Young endured a few hours of anxiety with her 15-year-old daughter, Brittney, as authorities closed parts of Interstate 64 and fought the blaze at the plant. "It was, like, really scary at first," Brittney said. Emergency officials in Kanawha County ordered people to stay inside in the cities of South Charleston, Cross Lane, Dunbar and St. Albans, where the Youngs live about four miles from the plant. Firefighters had extinguished the blaze by about 2 a.m. Friday, Charnoch said. Charnoch said authorities lifted the order about 15 minutes later after plant officials told the county that the explosion did not send contaminants into the air. The blast sent flames leaping into the night sky, casting an orange glow on nearby industrial towers. Kanawha County Manger Brent Pauley told The Associated Press the explosion sent a fire plume at least 50 feet in the air. "I personally live about 10 miles from the plant and I felt it," Pauley said. West Virginia State University Police Department patrolman Robert Flinn told the AP that he felt the explosion as he was sitting in his cruiser on the school's campus near the plant. "Our back was turned, and it was like somebody shined a giant spotlight on us," he said.
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CNN's 6 a.m. show didn't mention this

Good ol' Umbrella Corp., paving the way to the glorious future...

Wondering if E.L.F. was involved? Not accusing just wondering. What do you all think?

I imagine there are vast amounts of volatile and unstable chemicals in a plant like that. One minor accident in a place like that a kaboom!

I have no reason to suspect anything but an accident at this time.

The sort of research being done at places like this typically involves chemicals that can be very volatile. Shit can happen.

ALF = animal liberation front, a good old home grown terrorist non-organization or freedom fighters for the non-human species of the earth.....you choose.

I also work at State. My whole house shook. I thought a car had hit my house or something. When I went outside all the neighbors were coming out and you could see an orange glow in the sky over the plant.
You could also see a cloud of some kind rising up from the area.



Jeff

and I drove right past the plant. The smell was horrid. When I got to the Animal Clinic, which is a couple of miles from the plant I sat down in the waiting room and noticed that every picture in there was out of level. I fixed all of the pictures while they were working on my dog. I didn't charge them anything, but they didn't have any mercy on me. They said things were out of place all around the inside of the building when they came in and they hadn't noticed the pictures.

I live about 8 miles from the plant and didn't feel the concussion from the blast but my neighbors said they did. I had the TV turned up watching the convention. First I knew about the explosion was the fire department called at two AM and said the shelter in place had been lifted.

I drove past the plant again about noon and the smell was still very strong.

"Sister Plant" to the one that killed all those people in India. LARVIN and SEVIN were both made there at one time just like in India. If "MIC"(methyl isocyanate) had gotten out it would have been a horrible disaster.

Bhopal disaster

The Bhopal disaster was an industrial disaster that occurred in the city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, resulting in the immediate deaths of more than 3,000 people, according to the Indian Supreme Court. A more probable figure is that 8,000 died within two weeks, and it is estimated that the same number have since died from gas related diseases. However, testimonies from doctors who provided medical assistance during the tragedy claim over 15,000 were dead in the first month<1><2> and approximately 20,000 in total.<3>.

The incident took place in the early hours of the morning of December 3, 1984,<4> in the heart of the city of Bhopal in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. A Union Carbide subsidiary pesticide plant released 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, killing approximately 3,800 people instantly.<5> The Bhopal disaster is frequently cited as the world's worst industrial disaster.<1><2><6><7><8> The International Medical Commission on Bhopal was established in 1993 to respond to the disasters.

Two decades later, more than 100,000 people have permanent injuries, light or severe. The groundwater around the plant area remains contaminated, and the question of cleaning up the area is still unresolved. MORE...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster

My Dad helped build the Sevin and LARVIN units at Union Carbide Institute plant in the 60s. Chemical plants get old just like bridges.

population had disappeared.