Document VGO1wqrY1q2xKKL0e7rMXgJJq

Wednesday, June 9, 1999 ST-LOUIS POST'DISPATCH Local industries release figures on damage "worst-case" chemical leaks could cause By Patrick E. Gauen Ofthe Post-Dispatch Treading lightly on a delicate subject, leaders of industry and safety agencies disclosed details Tuesday about potential but un likely chemical leaks that could threaten everyone in the St. Louis region. There has never been a mas- sive vapor-release accident here and probably never will be, they emphasized. . But a federal rule requires reporting worst-case scenario risks to the Environmental Protection Agency for the public record by June 21. Boeing, Anheuser-Busch, Solutia and others took extra steps by joining emergency manage- ment officials from Missouri and Illinois in a public release of summaries ^ their required "Risk Management Plans." One of the most dramatic ex amples in the material they pro vided was an assessment by Clark Refining & Marketing that its plant in Hartford could spew enough hydrofluoric acid to See Scenarios, Page B3 Scenarios He added, "We've been using HF (hydrofluoric acid) for 29 years and we've never once had any of it Industries releasefigures get offthe site." Patrick Justis, an environmental on "worst-case" leaks specialist for the Missouri Depart ment of Natural Resources, said, Continuedfrom Page B1 "A worst-case scenario makes a lot of assumptions, mostly not plausi cause significant burns to people ble." He said a scaled-down alter up to 17 miles away native-release scenario, also, The threatened territory could include the northern half of St required by the EPA, is more real istic. Louis and parts of North County as dark Refining calculated its al far west as Lambert Field. ternative risk distance as 0.4 mile, The EPA defines a worst-case situation as a leak that empties the which Lauhei' said barely reaches the nearest home. largest container of dangerous ma Most of this information was al terial at the site, under the worst ready available to fire and rescue possible weather conditions, with teams under other hazardous ma failure of all safety systems and no . terial reporting requirements. The emergency response to stop.it . public assessment was added to the "We're behind this as a good law, but we've got some real problems Clean Air Act in 1990, effective this month. . about . the worst-case scenario Tuesday's conference, organized rule," said Forrest Lauher, manag by file Safety Council of Greater St er of the Clark refinery. "It's going Louis at its office downtown, may to scare the heck out of some peo surprise some people by what ple." . threats do not exist For example, Boeing's sprawling military aircraft plant in St Louis and missile plant in St Charles County do not store quantities of dangerous materials large enough for reporting under the new EPA rule. Neither do two Solutia Inc. chemical manufacturing sites in St Louis: the Carondelet Plant at 8201 Idaho Avenue and file John F. Queeny Plant at 201 Russell Boule vard. _ But Solutia's W.G. Krummrich Plant in Sauget could poison people up to 14 miles away in a massive chlorine leak, or bum people up to 20 miles away with nitric acid. The more realistic alternative assess ments are less than one mile. Hydrogen fluoride, a corrosive gas that can cause severe health ef fects in high concentration, could fan out for 16 miles if there were a catastrophe at Chemtech Products Inc. in Alorton. The cloud could travel as far west as Ladue, or north to Glen Carbon. Chlorine, a deadly poison in high concentration, is a threat at all wa ter purification plants. Worst-case distances ranged from just 0.9 mile at four plants operated by the Dlinois-American Water Co., to 9.9 miles for the city of St Louis Water Division plants at Howard Bend and the Chain of Rocks. Krista Durlas, safety officer for the city water system, said her agency was among many of Tues day's participants holding regular meetings with neighbors, even though the EPA does not require it "The public response has been very positive because of our safety record," Durlas explained. "Our last release of chlorine was in 1967." St Louis County Water Co. put worst-case risks at 1.3 miles for its North (Florissant), Meramec (near Arnold) and South (Sunset Hills) plants, and 9.9 miles for the Cen tral Plant (Maryland Heights). The Anheuser-Busch brewery on the city's South Side uses highly corrosive anhydrous ammonia as a refrigerant, with a worst-case risk of 2.3 miles (but an alternative risk ofjust 0.1 mile). DSW 138108 STLCOPCB4038065