Texas petrochemical giant fined $30 million over plant explosions in 2019

December 11, 2019 aerial photo of the TPS factory and surroundings (Photo by groupmesa98 / CC BY-SA 4.0)

On Tuesday, Texas Petrochemical Company (TPC Group) pleaded guilty to one criminal charge of violating the Clean Air Act in the U.S. District Court for East Texas over its criminal negligence that led its Port Neches plant to experience two explosions in November 2019.

The devastating explosions, which occurred thirteen hours apart, injured three workers and forced an emergency evacuation of more than 50,000 residents from the area. The impact of the blasts was reportedly felt up to 30 miles away.

TPC Group’s Port Neches petrochemical facility is one of three plants the Houston-based company operates along the Gulf of Mexico coast. The company’s other facilities are located in Houston and Lake Charles, Louisiana.

According to an investigation into the industrial disaster by the U.S. Department of Justice, the explosions released more than 11 million pounds of extremely hazardous chemicals, caused more than $130 million in property damage elsewhere, and had enormous consequences for human health and environment.

The Port Neches plant is responsible for 20 percent of U.S. butadiene production, a central ingredient in rubber production. Butadiene is a colorless, liquid gas with a gasoline odor that is extremely flammable and is known to cause respiratory disease and cancer if exposed to it for extended periods of time without proper equipment.

For more than three months prior to the explosions at the plant, a hazardous chemical material began to build up in a 16-inch diameter steel pipe that triggered the plant’s production. It formed a highly pressurized and poisonous “popcorn” that pushed against the air pressure. the walls of the pipe. Eventually the pipe collapsed under enormous pressure and exploded. The violent explosions ripped from the factory after 6,000 liters of the highly flammable liquid butadiene ignited in less than a minute, causing much of the factory to go up in flames.

The company’s criminal negligence is evident from its own 2016 internal report, which exposed TPC Group’s inside information about the dangerous threat posed by the popcorn polymer accumulating in the pipe. The report, categorized as an internal hazard analysis, was conducted three years before the November 2019 explosions.

The report specifically documented safety issues at the Port Neches facility, recommending periodic cleaning and flushing of the pipes, warning of the potential hazards if not properly maintained.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), a federal agency that investigates chemical incidents, agreed with the U.S. Department of Justice investigation. In concluding their investigation into the 2019 incident, the CSB concluded that TPC Group deliberately ignored the safety risks of popcorn polymer buildup in the 16-inch pipe.

Steve Owens, the chairman of the CSB, told the media: “The incident at TPC was the result of a known safety hazard – popcorn polymer – that was poorly managed and controlled at the facility, the result was a catastrophic incident.”

Illustrating the TPC Group’s blatant disregard for public safety and health, the World Socialist Web Site documented in 2019 that the Port Neches facility had been in violation of conducting what the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said was a “ emission event”. An emissions event occurs when a manufacturing facility emits more air pollution than allowed under its permit, which has been in violation every quarter since 2017, according to the EPA TPC Group.

TPC Group has pleaded guilty and released a statement: “TPC Group sincerely regrets the damage and disruption caused by the November 2019 incident at our Port Neches facility. Since the event, TPC Group has fully cooperated with all federal, state and local investigations.”

As part of its guilty plea, TPC Group agreed to pay $30 million in criminal and civil fines and penalties. In addition, the company pledges to invest $80 million to enhance the company’s risk management program and improve safety issues at its Port Neches and Houston facilities.

TPC Group’s criminal negligence is certainly not an isolated incident. The subordination of safety to profit interests is the operating principle of Corporate America.

In recent years, there have been several examples of major corporations’ criminal neglect of safety and health protocols, leading to one catastrophe after another.

In February 2023, a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed near East Palestine, Ohio, causing 38 cars to overturn and leak their toxic contents, with emergency crews, acting on behalf of Norfolk Southern, conducting a controlled burn of the chemicals. On the website. The fires flared for two days, releasing concentrated amounts of hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air.

The derailment was the result of Norfolk Southern’s criminal negligence in performing the routine maintenance necessary to ensure the trains operate safely. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that the cause of the disaster was a defective rail car axle, which after overheating caused a fire that led to the subsequent derailment.

After one of the worst environmental disasters in history, residents of eastern Palestine had to be evacuated as fiery toxic chemicals poisoned the city of more than 4,600 residents. An investigation by NewsNation found that 80 percent of area residents within a mile of the disaster suffered upper respiratory complications.

Norfolk Southern settled a class-action lawsuit in April for $600 million, a sum that totals less than the railroad giant’s $808 million in profits in the final quarter of last year and is dwarfed by its total profits $8.08 billion for 2023.

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