Texas Butylene Chemical Corporation - Executive Summary |
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27801 LDEQ Facility ID Number This Risk Management Plan is for the Texas Butylene Chemical Corporation (TBCC) facility near Lake Charles, Louisiana. TBCC receives, stores, and ships finished 1,3 butadiene, crude 1,3 butdiene, and pyrolisis gasoline at this site. TBCC is owned by Texas Petrochemicals Corporation (TPC) and operated by contract to Hollywood Marine. The TPC Terminal Supervisor from Baytown, TX, spends one day each week at the site. It is the policy of TPC to take all steps necessary to insure the safey of workers and the community. We are active in the Calcasieu Parish Local Emergency Planning Committee and are associate members of the Mutual Aid organization in the Westlake area. The worst-case scenario would be the catastrophic failure of a butadiene storage sphere. This could result in the loss of nearly 3,000,000 pounds of butadiene over a 10 minute period. If that vapor cloud were to detonate in an unconfined vapor cloud explosion, the impact circle would rea ch offsite areas and have the potential to impact the public. A more realistic alternate release scenario would be a failure of a 3/4 inch bleeder valve on a 3 inch pipeline. This could cause the release of 13,000 pounds of butadiene, assuming that the operator could close the block valves to isolate the failure within 5 minutes. Ignition of this smaller vapor cloud would be unlikely to detonate, so it was evaluated as a vapor cloud fire which barely has the potential to reach across the property boundary. Minimal public impacts would be expected from this flammable alternative release scenario. This facility is subject to Prevention Program Level 2. Fire prevention is the key element of the prevention program, and the excellent accident history record shows that this has been effective. TBCC has not had an accident over the last five years involving a regulated substance that meets the EPA critieria for the five-year accident history. TBCC has a written emergency response pla n and has coordinated emergency response with the Carlyss Fire Department and the Calcasieu Parish LEPC. We are associate memebers of the local Mutual Aid organization. The contract operators have been trained in incipient fire fighting. Since only one person is on duty at any given time, however, the operators will notify response agencies and evacuate the facility until help arrives. TBCC has a mature safety program and good performance in preventing accidents. There are no additional specific changes planned to improve safety, but our prevention efforts are a process in which continuous improvement is the goal. |