Public riled at lack of warnings about airborne chemical

Cheryl Warren has become experienced in speaking before Orange County Commissioners Court, but Tuesday she was shaking and near tears.

Her son and his family live on Foreman Road, the heart of an air-borne chemical accident Thursday, July 18. At least 150 people went to hospitals in Southeast Texas because of the exposure, according to Beaumont lawyer Brent Coon, who has already filed a lawsuit.

"That was an epic failure in information to the residents," Warren told the court. She urged the court to establish "uniform information."

Many others living in West Orange and the Victory Gardens outside Bridge City reported strong smells, tearing eyes, and trouble breathing hours before any kind of warning was issued.

Orange County Emergency Management Director Joel Ardoin said an investigation is being made into the chemical release, which the federal Environmental Protection Agency attributes to Eagle Railcar in West Orange on Foreman Road at Burnett Street.

The chemical was identified as ethyl acrylate, commonly part of the petrochemical plants. The EPA website says "Acute (short-term) exposure of workers to ethyl acrylate vapors have been reported to cause drowsiness, lethargy, headache, nausea, convulsions, and respiratory and gastrointestinal irritation."

Ardoin said the railcar company is not part of the emergency network used by the petrochemical plants on FM 1006, which intersects with Foreman Road. He said even the large chemical plants were trying to determine the source of the chemical leak.

The long section of FM 1006 lined by chemical plants with names like Dow, Lanxess, Chevron, and Lyon, has long been known locally as "Chemical Row." The plants and local emergency officials have banded together for emergency warnings and ways to shut down areas if there is a chemical air release or spill.

Ardoin, who gave a phone interview Tuesday while he was at an out-of-town conference, said the chemical plants notify his office and other authorities if there's a flaring to burn off extra chemicals, or other emergencies.

Thursday was different. Dow Sabine Sabine River Operations had a Facebook post before noon Thursday saying they had smelled chemicals by 11:15 a.m. and were evacuating employees. The post showed Acadian Ambulance Service at the scene helping.

By noon, word had gotten out that "non-essential workers" at the chemical plants had been told to evacuate the area. That was confirmed with conversations from employees at different plants.

Ardoin said crews from the plants were calling him trying to find the source. He said they all had searches at their sites and could not find a problem.

Finally, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) found the source and notified the EPA, which sent an investigation team.

The plants, along with public entities are part of STAN, the Southeast Texas Alerting Network, which sends out emergency warnings for specific areas through automated cell or land phones. People must register and give a phone number for the service, which notifies of different emergencies including weather alerts.

Residents living nearby though, were left out of a lot of the information. What little they were learning was coming from Facebook posts on the popular social media, though many people do not use it. Government entities in the county are now accustomed to using Facebook to give information.

The city of Orange Facebook page at 12:50 notified people to avoid FM 1006, saying the road had been shut down from the Adams Bayou Bridge to Highway 87. The city of West Orange Facebook page about the same time was saying the city did not have a shelter in place order. Within an hour, West Orange did have a shelter in place order.

Rachel McNiel, who lives in the Victory Gardens area, said she smelled the chemical on Wednesday. Then on Thursday "it was terrible" by 10 the next morning. She didn't get the shelter in place notice until 1:20 p.m. and by that time, she had left the area.

A neighbor, Missy Williams Darbonne, said she noticed a smell "like burning wires" about 9:30 a.m. and it started giving her a headache. She went to work outside the area and didn't get a shelter in place notice until about three hours later.

Gay Vela said by the time she and her husband received a shelter in place notice, they had left the area. They ended up spending the night in a hotel to escape the fumes, even though the shelter in place order was lifted about 8 p.m. Thursday.

Eagle Railcar is in West Orange. The company cleans out the chemical tank trucks hauled as part of freight trains back and forth from the chemical plants. The plant is along railroad tracks that backs up along a residential area of West Orange. It is also about a half a mile away from West Orange-Stark High School.

Ardoin said people living in the adjacent area complained about the smell on Wednesday night and the West Orange Volunteer Fire Department went to the company. However, the fire department did not notify the county emergency management.

The Christus hospital system of Southeast Texas announced that its new emergency medical center in Orange helped with people seeking medical care after exposure to the airborne chemical release. The information included a photograph of emergency medical personnel wearing yellow hazmat suits in the hall of the new facility.

Ardoin said he does not have an official count on how many people received medical attention.

By Friday, the Ferguson Law Firm of Beaumont and the law firm of Brent Coon were advertising for people who had been injured to contact them for possible lawsuits. Coon said Monday he had filed one suit and had a count of at least 150 people going to area hospitals.

Coon is having community meetings on the chemical leak on Thursday, July 25, at 4 p.m., 6 p.m., and 8 p.m. The gatherings will be at the historic Orange Train Depot on Green Avenue in Orange.

Investigations will be made on how the release happened and why the public was not warned.