#Houston newsfire driver

#Houston newsfire driver

Harris County special prosecutor Michael Doyle said in opening statements Thursday the fumes left Sweetman and Klozik doubled over and vomiting and caused permanent lung damage - they both now use inhalers and Sweetman has been diagnosed with the lung disease fibrosis.ĭoyle said organic peroxides are a “witches brew” so volatile that when Arkema ships them in trucks to clients, it does so in trailers equipped with satellites, which relay the temperatures in the trailer to the driver and the company’s headquarters in Philadelphia. The compounds combusted after Arkema workers moved them to refrigerated trailers. 31, 2017 after Hurricane Harvey flooded the property with 6 feet of water, knocking out power needed to keep organic peroxides near freezing temperature. The deputies drove their patrol cars through a gray vapor cloud emitted from Arkema’s plant in the early morning of Aug. The state’s case against Arkema, CEO Richard Rowe, former Crosby plant manager Leslie Comardelle and now retired vice president of logistics Michael Keough stems from the lung injuries of two Harris County sheriff’s deputies, Bryan Sweetman and David Klozik. “What is unusual about this case is the prosecution by state/county authorities under state criminal laws rather than criminal charges by the feds under a specific environmental statute,” said Victor Flatt, a University of Houston environmental law professor. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg wants to make an example of Arkema Inc., a subsidiary of a French chemical manufacturer, for an August 2017 incident at its plant in Crosby, a northeastern Houston suburb, that forced 205 residents to evacuate their homes and hospitalized 21 first responders. Just last month, a propylene tank exploded in a Houston machine shop warehouse, killing two workers and damaging hundreds of homes. Three petrochemical disasters struck the region last year killing a worker, forcing more than 50,000 people to evacuate their homes, temporarily closing the Houston Ship Channel and casting a cloud of black smoke that spread over the city for days and affected weather patterns, drifting 100 miles northwest to College Station. But disruptive, sometimes deadly, industrial accidents have become commonplace here. Home to numerous refineries, chemical plants and oil company headquarters, Houston proudly proclaims itself the energy capital of the world. HOUSTON (CN) – Plagued by a spate of plant explosions and fires, Texas petrochemical producers stepped into uncharted waters in a Houston courtroom Thursday with state prosecutors urging jurors to send a CEO to prison for a chemical meltdown that damaged the lungs of two sheriff’s deputies.