Hi Regina, and others. You can get quite a bit of information from TRI reports ( http://www.epa.gov/tri-efdr/). Under EPCRA, these are required for any facility that has a toxic chemical over a certain threshold planning quantity. For MIC, that quantity is 500 pounds. Their reports can be found by going to http://www.epa.gov/tri-efdr/ and typing "Bayer" in the facility name (make sure to click "containing") and wv as the state. The Bayer CropScience is the facility with MIC, along with many other toxics. This MIC report says that in 2007 they released 72 pounds in fugitive emissions, 314 pounds in stack emissions and they treated 51,000 pounds on-site. They also state that they use incineration and a scrubber to control emissions, so I would assume they also have an air permit.
Also under EPCRA, they are required to give emergency planning information to the State Emergency Response Commission and the Local Emergency Planning Committee (http://www.wvdhsem.gov/serc1.htm). Since the purpose of the EPCRA law is to increase public knowledge, I don't think it would be too hard to get this info and evaluate it. But I've never tried before.
Another tool on the EPA website ( http://www.epa.gov/triexplorer/chemicalquantity.htm) can give you the total number of toxic disposed of or released. In 2006, about 48,000 pounds of MIC was disposed of, or released, in WV. Almost all of this was destroyed on-site. I would assume that this means that this facility is the only one that has MIC in WV. In the whole US, there are 257,000 pounds of MIC being disposed of.
Also, the reportable quantity for MIC is 10 pounds, all during one incident. They would not be required to report anything under that, unless their emergency plan, air permit, or any other permit stated otherwise.
Another way to get info is if they have over 10,000 pounds if MIC on-site at any time, they need to submit a Risk Management Plan according to 40 CFR 68. This regulation (section 210) explicitly says that the Risk Management Plan will be available to the public.
Well, that's all I know. Rodger
On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 11:01 PM, Regina Hendrix regina1936@verizon.netwrote:
Maya:
Oh, my God, we have to do something about this. We can't let this pass. We are sitting ducks here in Kanawha Valley. Expendable people. Another Bhopal in the making.
Regina
Maya Nye wrote:
Bayer Communication Issues Continue, County Officials Say
Posted: 5:15 PM Oct 27, 2008 Last Updated: 7:32 PM Oct 27, 2008 Reporter: Mike Waterhouse Email Address:mike.waterhouse@wsaz.comAddress%3Amike.waterhouse@wsaz.com <
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KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Kanawha County's emergency services director says he should have been informed about a minor situation involving the chemical MIC at the Bayer CropScience Plant in Institute.
In fact, county officials say the first they heard about it is when WSAZ.com contacted them about it.
MIC, short for methyl isocyanate, is an extremely toxic chemical used in the production of some pesticides.
Tom Dover, spokesperson for Bayer, confirms a tank associated with MIC storage was opened during inspections in the west side of the plant, but says the amount of chemical leaked was far below reporting levels. The situation happened near the end of September.
Workers took action after smelling the odor of MIC, which Dover says has a strong smell even at very low levels. Employees then left the area and several were checked out at the plant's medical facility. One contractor then decided on his own to go to an outside hospital after his shift. Dover says he was released with nothing found.
Dover tells WSAZ.com there was no harmful exposure of MIC to employees or anyone outside the plant. He called this a "non-incident" because the levels were not anywhere near dangerous levels.
"At no point was anyone in danger," Dover said.
Dover adds that Bayer would have notified county officials "without hesitation" had the amount of MIC reached reportable levels.
Dale Petry, Kanawha County Emergency Services Director, says he's a little disturbed that he didn't know about this situation, even if the amount of MIC involved did not meet a reportable level.
"I wish I had known about it," said Petry. "Let me make the decision whether it should be reported to the public."
Petry says he doesn't think this latest incident will hurt the county's relationship with the plant. He wants to continue to work with Bayer to improve communication.
Bayer came under fire for its lack of communication to the county after an explosion at its Larvin unit in early September. Two workers died as a result of the blast. Kanawha County officials say Bayer waited hours to release any detailed information about the severity of the incident.
As a result of having little information, county officials issued a shelter-in-place for the western portion of Kanawha County, affecting thousands of people.
Bayer later admitted that it should have provided better information during the explosion and agreed to change its notification system.
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