The OC chemical problem is prompting a review of the safety record, Newsom said
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom said California officials are beginning to review the safety records of the airline whose pressurized tank nearly exploded with toxic chemicals over the Memorial Day weekend, as well as other similar chemical plants.
“Obviously, we’re all now reviewing, and we’ve been in real time, safety records, not just for this site, but we’re looking more closely at other chemicals at other sites,” Newsom said in response to a question from The Times at a news conference where he signed the bill into law on Wednesday. The review was “highlighted especially by what happened tragically in the state of Washington, too.”
A large chemical tank explosion at a paper mill in Longview, Wash., has killed two people, killed nine people and injured eight others, the Associated Press reported. Authorities said there was no hope of finding any survivors from Tuesday’s accident at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. This is one of the deadliest accidents in America in years.
Newsom added that he was concerned about “some of the security funding cuts that were made last year, across the state, and are being proposed in the president’s new budget.” And I hope this tempers the chances of them moving forward with those cuts.
“I think they should be very strict about that investigation, not less,” Newsom said.
When asked by The Times whether more regulation of chemical plants might be needed, Newsom said, “That’s what I’m proposing, as it relates to laws and regulations, all reviewed, and safety records reviewed.”
State Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Orange) added at a news conference: “There will be legislation.”
The industry is well aware of the dangers of the types of chemical hazards that can lead to thermal reactions, including the risk of explosion. But experts have said for years that companies have not learned from past mistakes.
About 15% of incidents in the US involving uncontrolled chemical reactions from 1980 to 2001 were heat-related incidents involving rapid chemical decomposition, according to a study published in the journal ACS Omega, citing information from the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
In Orange County, a near-disaster was caused by thousands of gallons of a highly toxic chemical in a failing pressurized chemical tank that ignited at the Garden Grove-based aerospace company, GKN Aerospace.
Authorities suspect that the cooling system responsible for maintaining the temperature in the tank filled with methyl methacrylate, or MMA, failed. MMA can be used to make strong, durable, lightweight and transparent plastics that act like glass, such as Plexiglass.
Experts believe that MMA’s liquid chemical, the monomer, began to react with heat to become a solid polymer.
Each chemical reaction produced more heat and raised the risk of a process called thermal runaway, when the reaction gets out of control. That could cause a BLEVE, or boiling liquid vapor explosion, which could cause widespread damage and release toxic substances into the air.
About 50,000 residents in Orange County were evacuated. Ultimately, efforts to cool the disabled tank by spraying it with water were believed to have helped slow the reaction enough to prevent an explosion or a major tank explosion that could have sent toxic chemicals into waterways and the ocean. Eventually, officials found a crack in the tank and found it had depressurized the interior, ending the threat.
Kwok reported from Sacramento, Lin from San Francisco.
