THE BEATTIE FARMERS UNION COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION - Executive Summary |
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The farmer owners, management, and employees of the Beattie Farmers Union Coopertive Association are committed and dedicated to the prevention of any accidental releases of anhydrous ammonia. If an accidental release should occur, the facility is prepared to work with the local fire department, or other authorities, to mitigate any release and minimize the impact of the release to the communities in which we operate. The primary activity at this facility is the unloading from truck, anhydrous ammonia, into our storage tanks and then transfer from the storage tanks into nurse tanks. These nurse tanks are used by our farmer customers to apply nitrogen to their crops. The maximum quanity stored in or storage tanks is 149,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia. The worst-case scenario would be the release of the total contents of a storage tank released as a gas over 10 minutes. The maximum quanity released would be 51,000 pounds., which represents the volume of the largest storage tank at 85 p ercent capacity as limited by design standards. The distance to the endpoint ( point of dispersion to 200 ppm) is 1.63 miles. The alternative release scenario based on industry records and the most likely potential incident is a release from a break in a transfer hose. The distance to the endpoint ( point of dispersion to 200 ppm) is .83 miles. Because our firm handles anhydrous ammonia, we are regulated by DOT, EPA, OSHA and The Kansas Department of Agriculture who inspects our facilities on an annual basis. These regulations along with the extensive training and standards our company uses has led us to an excellent safety record. We have had no reportable accidents with anhydrous ammonia in the last five years. We are very proud of this record. In the event we would have an ammonia release we have an emergency response plan which discusses what our personnel are to do. In addition the training our employees are required to have addresses ammonia accidents and proper procedures we must take to mitigate any accidental release. Each year we report to the state, LEPC and to the local fire department what kinds of hazardous materials we are keeping on site. Our company will continue to do whatever is required to keep the communities we serve safe in the future. |