As I mentioned on Monday, the chemical plant in Waxahachie was full of frack chemicals and, as we know from past experience, fracking chemicals are highly flammable.
Brett Shipp is catching up. đ And I’m so glad Shipp is on this story.
The really crazy thing is that the first responders didn’t know what was going on at the facility. It’s stupid and negligent that our first responders are exposed to these chemicals and processes and they don’t know what the chemicals are.
Shipp revealed in this story that the facility does not have a risk management plan and 80% of their business is oil and gas. Look for massive attempts to cover up.
Oh and I just wanted to add: Shipp was clued in about the fracking chemicals because of the hazardous materials signs on the rail cars parked near the plant. (Remember that even though oil and gas waste contains hazardous chemicals, they have an exemption from the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act so they don’t have to call their waste hazardous.) So, I thought it would be a good time to remind you about this sign that was on the side of a frack truck about 300 feet from the Ruggieros’ home.
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Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether itâs top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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I just can’t imagine why everyone wouldn’t want this in their neighborhood, it’s as benign as the corner donut shop. Donuts are flammable and highly toxic, right?
What a hoot! First round of questions about what was made at that place was “agricultural products”. After more and more prodding, finanly get the answer “some fracking products”. When pressed on that point, it finally comes out 80% of their production was fracking products, but that of course they’re perfectly safe.
If they were perfectly safe, why all the evasiveness and attempts to cover up the fact they made fracking products in the first place? My God these people are evil.
What you said, Tillotson!
But, all I had to do was Google a little bit and I knew then what started the fire. I shudder thinking how close those firemen came to getting seriously hurt or even losing their lives. Evil is what they are.
As soon as I saw this fire I immediately knew it would somehow be tied to fracturing. Does O&G only do business with people as shady as they are?! And props to Brett Shipp for his curiosity and tenacity in photographing those rail cars and nailing them on it.
Nice guy that Brett Shipp, he totally wrote me an email reply, “We are most disturbed by the variety of different stories we were told prior to milking the truth out of the CEO. I just wonder what else they are not wanting to come clean about.”
I hate to think what would have happened if one of those RR tankers were LPG! I also understand that ammonia could be smelled around there during the fire.
More details – “an accident waiting to happen.”
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20111006-former-magnablend-employee-says-fire-was-accident-waiting-to-happen.ece
But Eric Kelly of Fort Worth says that he worked at the chemical blending plant this summer and was ignored when he warned supervisors that safety rules were breached.
No one was injured or killed in the disaster â a fact that Kelly says is amazing. He said that the plant had stockpiles of dangerous chemicals with inadequate containment and that basic safety measures were ignored daily.
One lax procedure was the frequent reuse of pumps and hoses without flushing out old chemical residue, Kelly said.
âYou are going to mix chemicals together that can have an adverse reaction,â he said. âI mean, itâs just dangerous.â
Another problem, he said, was allowing chemical overflow to drip into trash cans without proper disposal.
âYouâve got all these people emptying this stuff into the trash can so that it didnât make a mess, and then at the end of the day youâve got all these trash cans being dumped in the central dumpster,â he said. âAnd that to me is a really big hazard.â
Kelly said that he took photos of the problems and showed supervisors but that no changes were made.
Kelly said that workers were outfitted with proper safety gear and put through a safety program, but he said he was never made aware of an emergency action plan.
âI donât think the firefighters knew exactly what was going on in that plant, and I donât think they knew what they were up against,â he said.
After six weeks on the job and too many complaints about conditions, Kelly said, his bosses asked him to leave.
…not surprising at all. Sooner or later we will have whistel blowers who are so outraged they will not be afraid to come forward. I’ve spoken to several truck drivers who tell stories of outright violations of laws, keeping two logs so drivers can work longer hours, no safety gear, instructions to illegally dump toxics in creeks and ponds, being forced to clean out frack tanks with no protective gear… They are afraid to come forward.