Aug. 29, 2008
Major Explosions Rock Bayer Plant at Institute Formerly Owned by Union Carbide
One Worker Still Missing; Shelter in Place Lifted at About 2 a.m.
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) - An explosion occurred at the Bayer Cropscience Chemical Plant at Institute, WV, Thursday, August 28, at about 10:25 p.m. Kanawha County officials have ordered a shelter in place in areas west of Charleston. Interstate 64 has been closed in Kanawha County since it passes near the plant. People as far away as Boone and Cabell Counties felt the explosion.
Reports from officials near the scene, including a state fire marshal, have not reported any respiratory problems within 500 feet of the plant. Still, as a precaution, residents of Institute (including West Virginia State University), Dunbar, Cross Lanes, St. Albans, Nitro, and South Charleston had been ordered to shelter in place until shelter in place. The shelter in place has been lifted as of 2 a.m. and law enforcement are re-opening the major roads in the area. The precautionary shelter in place will continue until state air quality officials can learn about the nature of the chemi cal released.
At 1:35 a.m. a plant official stated that a waste product from the manufactured chemical had flammable qualities, but at this time no toxic chemicals have been released outside of the plant.
One employee remains missing and another has been transported to the burn unit at a Pittsburgh hospital, according to Mike Way, a spokesman for Bayer.
The plant manufactures insecticides Although the fire continues, it occurred at the Larvin and/or Methomyl units. The origin was not the manufactured chemicals but a flammable residue.
Built in 1943 by the U.S. government for the production of rubber, Union Carbide operated the plant until 1986 when it was purchased by Rhone-Poulenc. Bayer bought the plant in 2001. The plant manufactures and stores large quantities methyl isocyanate, or MIC, the chemical responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in a huge leak at a Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, in December 1984.
On August 18, 1994, the methomyl-Larvin pesticide unit of the plant20exploded killing one worker. An additional worker died in 2004 from the impact of cyanide that burned his lungs ten years before.
“The fire is under control, diminishing in nature and we believe it will be under control shortly,” Mike Way reported at about 2:10 a.m. “Monitors at the fence line” indicate that the surrounding area has no air or environmental issues.
“We need to get the fire totally out to search for the missing individual,” Way told reporters. “The fire may have helped us by consuming the chemical materials. The fire occurred at a waste product treatment unit.” Once treated the product goes to a boiler and is released in the air as steam.
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Major Explosions Rock Bayer Plant at Institute Formerly Owned by Union Carbide
One Worker Still Missing; Shelter in Place Lifted at About 2 a.m.
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) - An explosion occurred at the Bayer Cropscience Chemical Plant at Institute, WV, Thursday, August 28, at about 10:25 p.m. Kanawha County officials have ordered a shelter in place in areas west of Charleston. Interstate 64 has been closed in Kanawha County since it passes near the plant. People as far away as Boone and Cabell Counties felt the explosion.
Reports from officials near the scene, including a state fire marshal, have not reported any respiratory problems within 500 feet of the plant. Still, as a precaution, residents of Institute (including West Virginia State University), Dunbar, Cross Lanes, St. Albans, Nitro, and South Charleston had been ordered to shelter in place until shelter in place. The shelter in place has been lifted as of 2 a.m. and law enforcement are re-opening the major roads in the area. The precautionary shelter in place will continue until state air quality officials can learn about the nature of the chemi cal released.
At 1:35 a.m. a plant official stated that a waste product from the manufactured chemical had flammable qualities, but at this time no toxic chemicals have been released outside of the plant.
One employee remains missing and another has been transported to the burn unit at a Pittsburgh hospital, according to Mike Way, a spokesman for Bayer.
The plant manufactures insecticides Although the fire continues, it occurred at the Larvin and/or Methomyl units. The origin was not the manufactured chemicals but a flammable residue.
Built in 1943 by the U.S. government for the production of rubber, Union Carbide operated the plant until 1986 when it was purchased by Rhone-Poulenc. Bayer bought the plant in 2001. The plant manufactures and stores large quantities methyl isocyanate, or MIC, the chemical responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in a huge leak at a Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, in December 1984.
On August 18, 1994, the methomyl-Larvin pesticide unit of the plant20exploded killing one worker. An additional worker died in 2004 from the impact of cyanide that burned his lungs ten years before.
“The fire is under control, diminishing in nature and we believe it will be under control shortly,” Mike Way reported at about 2:10 a.m. “Monitors at the fence line” indicate that the surrounding area has no air or environmental issues.
“We need to get the fire totally out to search for the missing individual,” Way told reporters. “The fire may have helped us by consuming the chemical materials. The fire occurred at a waste product treatment unit.” Once treated the product goes to a boiler and is released in the air as steam.
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