We had some questions during Tuesday’s online chat about the Bayer CropScience explosion concerning the status of investigations into the incident by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Protection.

I made a few calls, and we published this story today about  how the tank that blew up did not have the appropriate permit required by the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Note that DEP officials were quick to insist that the lack of this permit — and the review that obtaining one would have involved — couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with the explosion. But judging from what EPA officials said about RCRA permit requirements, I’m not sure that’s entirely clear yet:

Carol Amend, associate director in EPA’s regional land enforcement office, said a RCRA permit review generally would include an assessment of the tank’s integrity, periodic inspection requirements, and a mandate for certain types of secondary containment, such as dikes.

“All of that gets to leaks and releases,” Amend said.

(more…)

Photo via AP by Tom Hindman, Charleston Daily Mail

Here’s the transcript of the online chat I did today on the Gazette’s Web site about the Bayer CropScience explosion:

10:19

Gary Harki:

Good morning everyone. Welcome to our live chat with Gazette environmental reporter Ken Ward about the Aug. 28, 2008 explosion at the Bayer CropScience’s Institute plant.

10:20

Gary Harki:

We will begin at 10:30 but feel free to go ahead and submit questions.

10:32

Good morning folks. It’s appropriate that we’re having this discussion today.

This is Workers Memorial Day, a day set aside by labor organizations and workers rights groups to remember workers who were killed on the job and to think about what employers and the government could do to improve safety and health conditions for all.

I blogged about this last night at the Gazette’s Sustained Outrage blog, and you can learn more about it from the AFL-CIO, the group United Support & Memorial for Workplace Fatalities or the Pump Handle blog.

Let’s all remember that the Withrow and the Oxley families were those most affected by this terrible explosion.

And a quick note that all of the Gazette’s stories on the explosion are collected at this part of our Web site.

And with that, let’s get started…

10:32

[Comment From k dog]

how many mic detectors were not working ?

10:34

The MIC detectors inside the Methomyl Larvin unit were not working that night. According to the congressional report, they have a central analyzer and 15 pickup points in that unit.

10:34

[Comment From Bill in St. Albans]

Given the recent findings, do you think the plant is safer now than it was at the time of the explosion?

10:35

Ken Ward Jr.:

That’s hard to answer — I guess I would point out that the chairman of the Chemical Safety Board, John Bresland, indicated he would not be comfortable living near the plant until he saw evidence of a comprehensive safety program that was working.

(more…)

Hey folks, I just wanted to alert readers who are interested in the Bayer CropScience explosion coverage to this section of the Gazette’s Web site.

Web editor Gary Harki was kind enough to pull all of our stories concerning the August 2008 explosion and fire — including tons of coverage from last week’s congressional hearing and Chemical Safety Board meeting — into this one section.

There’s more to come on this issue, so stay tuned …