|
Dow’s handling of leak irks resident
Published November 25, 2009
Dow Chemical Co. says it has repaired a pipeline found leaking propane at its Stratton Ridge facility, but a local man is concerned the company failed to alert nearby residents about the incident.
Roland “Buck” Yarborough, who lives within a mile of the plant, says the company’s lack of transparency left residents to worry about their safety and wonder why Stratton Ridge Road was closed. The sound of an emergency horn was the only other indication of potential danger, he said.
“They go and close the road and nobody knew what was going on,” Yarborough said.
Dow crews uncovered the “minor” raw material leak just before 8 p.m. Nov. 14. It was caused by a maintenance door that had not been sealed completely, Dow spokeswoman Gina Gibbs-Foster said. She said a “very minimal” amount of propane leaked from the pipeline.
Company officials determined the leak did not put the public’s health at risk, but they chose to close a 1- to 2-mile stretch of Stratton Ridge Road near FM 523 for about 20 minutes as a precaution, Gibbs-Foster said.
“Our emergency folks responded immediately. They did an excellent job of assessing the situation and prevented any product from making it outside of our fenceline and affecting the community,” she said.
Yarborough said he called the Brazosport Industrial Community Awareness and Emergency Response telephone line for information when he heard the emergency horn, but there was no information available from the service.
It took about an hour and dozens of phone calls before Yarborough learned about the leak from the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office, he said.
Dow did not post a message on the information line because the company only refers people to it when expecting a large volume of calls, Gibbs-Foster said.
“In this case, we were not,” she said. “If someone had called CAER, their call would have been answered by a Dow emergency services professional.”
Dow has a tendency to close stretches of Stratton Ridge Road regularly, sometimes once or twice a month, Yarborough said. Detouring around the area adds 10 miles to his treks.
Gibbs-Foster, however, said the leak marks the first time Dow has closed the road.
“Our intent is to minimize any community impact whenever possible,” Gibbs-Foster said. “We know that when we close a road, that’s an inconvenience for the neighbors. So we do everything we can not to have any community impact even including closing roads. However, in this case, as a safety precaution, we felt it was best.”
The Stratton Ridge leak was less troublesome for Dow than a high-profile problem in October, when residents of 65 homes in northernmost Freeport were displaced for almost two weeks after crews found a leak in a urethane pipeline. The company paid for the evacuated residents’ housing, food and transportation.
Dow repaired the pipeline and began filling the area surrounding it with dirt earlier this month.
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print
|
|
|
 |
|
FREE BAY BOAT WITH WATERFRONT PURCHASE Get
...
Click for all
Top Ads listing
|
