How many Twitter accounts does our County Judge have?

schmellba99 said:

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Yep.

It doesn't help that many of these enforcement agencies have the ability to levy fines that go into their bank accounts - there is no incentive for OSHA to not fine you - they are the beneficiary of the check you have to write after they find a violation.

And I know this comes as a complete shock to guys like WESAG, but those big evil oil companies and corporations don't want to pollute. There is no benefit to them for doing so. They want clean air and clean water like the rest of us do, and most of them spend a rather large sum of money on an annual basis that comes right off the bottom line to keep their equipment running, containment systems in place, etc. There are far more benefits to being clean than just worrying about OSHA or TCEQ.

Some are obviously better than others, but the general mindset is that putting product on the ground or in the water or burning it unnecessarily isn't a good thing - even if it is just from a profitability standpoint, because that is product that can't be sold.

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plant operators/managers get bonuses for money made by the plant. they don't get bonuses for less pollution. Shortcuts are taken every day.

No one wants dirty air or water, but few people think their actions are going to have a impact. See also: the guys who roll coal all over town.

P.S. I'm not a guy like WESAG. No offence to you, WESAG. (this might be a relief to WESAg)

At the risk of asking a dumb question, where is the benzene coming from? I don't remember any of the tanks being labeled as containing benzene. Or is some of the exposed product left vaporizing and benzene is one of the components?

Look at all the runoff into the bay, that can't be good. Hopefully they don't destroy it. Is anyone independent doing water samples?

suburban cowboy said:

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YellAg2004 said:

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At the risk of asking a dumb question, where is the benzene coming from? I don't remember any of the tanks being labeled as containing benzene. Or is some of the exposed product left vaporizing and benzene is one of the components?

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Benzene is one of the components of almost all refined petroleum products. It is an aromatic compound but it does not typically bioaccumulate in plants or animals. It does take longer to break down in soil and water.

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Pygas is 50% benzene.

Naphtha is 10-15% benzene.

https://harriscounty.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=c1d5e7fdb6b8469db10b0d5baa2639bd

(Zoom into the red location closest to 225 and East Blvd)

Air Monitoring Reading - March 21st, 2019
Location Description Wynfield Dr at Park Green
Latitude 29.70
Longtitude -95.10
Results VOC: 11.2 ppm
Unit # 3022
Notes
Label Red > 1.0 ppm

The red ones are probably faulty sensors. Everything is fine

I am highly suspect of the high reading down on Pasadena blvd. Some $12 x hour jackoff probably took a reading at a gas station and is scaring the public.
The ones up on 13th I am doubtful on, but not as much as the one down on Pasadena.

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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I am highly suspect of the high reading down on Pasadena blvd. Some $12 x hour jackoff probably took a reading at a gas station and is scaring the public.
The ones up on 13th I am doubtful on, but not as much as the one down on Pasadena.

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I'm skeptical of all the readings. There was a mixed-chemical pit fire roughly 600' in diameter putting out a black plume of poorly combusted smoke at the same time the PR reps were telling us the air quality was normal.

You're not saying that sampling companies would routinely BS results to make their client happy are you?

If we did, the money certainly hasn't trickled all the way down to me.

for the past two days daycare said the air quality was fine and letting the kids outside. today they said it isn't good and keeping them inside.

this is in Humble.

I'm not seeing anything that suggests this

ITC lady is worthless. No one cares about your tears.

My point is people living in Deer Park or surrounding areas aren't going to die from this, not once did I not say people working in plants don't acquire cancer from years of working there. People breath in plant air each and every day in those surrounding cities and there are more than once a year where a shelter in place is activity for precautionary measures.

But people that take those jobs know that's the risk of working there. That's a completely different argument than what I originally stated.

They just lifted the SIP

smango05 said:

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ITC PIO crying again during another news conference.

Between her tears at every news conference, Lina Hidalgo not knowing her ass from her elbow, and the mass panic amongst the SAHMs on social media, this whole spectacle has been quite a circus.

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Towns03 said:

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schmellba99 said:

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Yep.

It doesn't help that many of these enforcement agencies have the ability to levy fines that go into their bank accounts - there is no incentive for OSHA to not fine you - they are the beneficiary of the check you have to write after they find a violation.

And I know this comes as a complete shock to guys like WESAG, but those big evil oil companies and corporations don't want to pollute. There is no benefit to them for doing so. They want clean air and clean water like the rest of us do, and most of them spend a rather large sum of money on an annual basis that comes right off the bottom line to keep their equipment running, containment systems in place, etc. There are far more benefits to being clean than just worrying about OSHA or TCEQ.

Some are obviously better than others, but the general mindset is that putting product on the ground or in the water or burning it unnecessarily isn't a good thing - even if it is just from a profitability standpoint, because that is product that can't be sold.

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plant operators/managers get bonuses for money made by the plant. they don't get bonuses for less pollution. Shortcuts are taken every day.

No one wants dirty air or water, but few people think their actions are going to have a impact. See also: the guys who roll coal all over town.

P.S. I'm not a guy like WESAG. No offence to you, WESAG. (this might be a relief to WESAg)

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I understand that. But pumps or tanks or pipes that leak don't contribute to the bottom line because efficiency and the process slows down or gets jacked up.

I'm not arguing that every company is 100% environmental first, second and third and everything else comes last - only that the mentality that big oil and the petrochem industry not caring about the environment and wanting to pollute is a garbage mentality. There is always a balance to be had, some play the game better than others and some are more apt to take risks, but the bottom line is that every company ends up being more and more risk adverse as time goes on because cutting that corner may make an extra dollar today, but when something happens as a result of cutting that corner too far, every dollar you made goes out the door to fix the mess or pay the fines, etc. at some point. How far companies are willing to stretch is different, but for the most part the industry is not willing to stretch nearly as far as they were even 10 years ago.

This event is pretty unusual even by normal DP standards. Grew up there, have family there now. I can't remember the last time the schools have been closed this many days for plant related problems. Chemicals in the air is normal down there. The local rag would print the chemical listing and percentages weekly and it was lengthy. This is not so normal though. Hopefully for all concerned down there they get this under control quickly. I will be in DP on Saturday and will submit a Texags air quality report afterwards!