Sun Bay South: Plant's chlorine release prompts changes
County officials meet with Chemical Formulators leaders to develop an improved safety system at its plant.
By RON MATUS
Published November 28, 2003
Jeff Aguiar isn't sure whether the smell or the panicked voice hit him first.
It was Oct. 3, and the chief executive of Westship World Yachts on Tyson Avenue was meeting with clients.
Suddenly, the sharp odor of toxic chlorine gas rushed his nose. At the same time, an employee yelled that there was a leak next door, at Chemical Formulators Inc.
Aguiar and his employees evacuated, but several had to be hospitalized and, as of last week, one had yet to return to work.
Aguiar remains concerned that his industrial neighbor is "a very, very real health threat."
So do county regulators.
Last Friday, officials with the county Environmental Protection Commission and representatives from Chemical Formulators met to discuss improvements that might stop the accidental releases.
The EPC cited the company for the Oct. 3 incident, which also sent five Chemical Formulators employees to the hospital for monitoring.
"We think the steps they have been taking obviously have not been adequate steps," said Alain Watson, chief of the EPC's air toxics section.
The Oct. 3 release was the sixth reported to regulators since the company opened its plant near West Shore Boulevard in 1995.
A July 1998 release sickened 62 people.
Chemical Formulators makes chemicals used at water and sewage treatment plants.
Chlorine gas is shipped in by rail car and pumped into the facility under pressure, Watson said. In five of the six releases, gas escaped as it was being pumped, he said. In the most recent incident, a cap burst.
The county is recommending Chemical Formulators build an enclosure around the unloading area, so accidental releases can be trapped. It also wants the company to install a treatment system to neutralize chlorine gas and outdoor sirens to notify neighboring businesses of an accident.
Chemical Formulators has coordinated drills with its neighbors in the past, but "we want them to come up with something more fail-safe," Watson said.
During the Oct. 3 incident, many Westship employees grabbed respirators their company had bought to counter chlorine from next door. For some it was too late, Aguiar said.
About a dozen people had difficulty breathing, he said, including himself.
The employee who has not returned to work suffered from a burned trachea and other ailments, he said. He declined to give the employee's name.
Since the leak happened on a Friday, only about 50 of Westship's workers were on hand, Aguiar said. The yacht company employs 130.
Following the 1998 release, federal officials fined Chemical Formulators $2,775 for a host of violations, including a lack of safety equipment. As a result, the company bought new equipment and set up safety procedures, prompting EPC officials to offer a pat on the back.
Another injury-causing release is "next to impossible," one EPC official told the St. Petersburg Times in October 1998.
Last week's meeting between county and company officials did not result in any concrete agreements. The company has until Monday to either appeal the county's citation, which orders it to make improvements immediately, ask for an extension or offer a schedule for making changes, Watson said.
"Basically we need to have more meetings with them," said Jim Palmer, chief operating officer for Allied Universal, a Miami company closely tied to Chemical Formulators.
The enclosure the county suggested is "not standard in the industry" and would cost more than $1-million, Palmer said.
"We're still looking at that, but there are other alternatives," he said.
Even though the plant is about a mile from homes, the risk to residents is "not that great," Watson said.
Chlorine gas, which has a greenish color, dissipates as it travels. However, its direction and potency depend on wind and other environmental factors, he said.
Residents didn't realize there was any threat.
Al Steenson, president of the Gandy Civic Association, said he did not know about Chemical Formulators' history of accidental releases. The EPC needs to notify neighborhoods in the future, he said.
For now, notification is decided on a case-by-case basis, depending on the level of threat, Watson said. But that may change.
The county is looking at ways to better alert communities, based on other pollution incidents this year, including the breaching of an anhydrous ammonia pipeline in Brandon and the tainting of well water outside the Coronet factory near Plant City.
