Texas has guidelines that define what level of exposure to various chemicals could affect peoples health; for benzene, its 180 parts per billion in an hour. In 2021, TCEQ approved a rule that allows the agency to consider major explosions or fires when it decides whether to issue permits to a company a change that agency staff pushed because of the ITC fire. In 2019, air quality inspectors found that high levels of benzene emissions had wafted across the highway and into residential areas of Deer Park in the weeks after the ITC chemical fire was extinguished. Luoping Zhang, a researcher and adjunct professor of toxicology at the University of California, Berkeley, said after reviewing some of the EPAs data that she was shocked the samples were collected outdoors in the middle of the day because benzene typically breaks down quickly in the sunlight and open air. Harris. Stay where you are until officials say it is safe to get back on the road. She drove herself to an emergency room, not knowing yet that her son had gone to the hospital a day earlier for the same symptoms. For example, the report said Harris County Pollution Control, which has a special team to respond to fires involving hazardous materials and other chemical incidents, had meager staffing and antiquated or out-of-service equipment during the 2019 fire. The fire prompted Deer Park officials to advise residents to shelter in place that Sunday. The Texas Tribune used air quality data collected by the Environmental Protection Agencys Trace Atmospheric Gas Analyzer (TAGA) Unit that sampled air quality in both industrial and community areas surrounding Intercontinental Terminals Companys Deer Park facility between March 21 and May 20, 2019. Ochoa, the single father, left home at the usual time Monday morning and worked a 12-hour shift outdoors in the Houston Ship Channel installing pipes. The stored material began to break down, resulting in an offsite odor release, the spokesperson said. LA PORTE, Texas UPDATE 12 p.m. Thursday | The evacuation has been lifted and roads in the area have been re-opened, according to La Porte Emergency Management. by Erin Douglas, Alejandra Martinez and Caroline Covington The fire began after a tanks pump failed and began to leak naphtha, a highly flammable liquid. No shelter-in-place advisory was issued for Channelview residents.
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