Snyder Gas Plant - Executive Summary |
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Accidental Release Prevention and Response Policies The Torch Snyder Gas Plant has a long-standing commitment to worker and public safety. This commitment is demonstrated by the resources invested in accident prevention, such as straining personnel and considering safety in the design, installation, operation and maintenance of our processes. However, if a release does occur, our trained personnel will respond to control and contain the release. Description of the Stationary Source and Regulated Substances The Snyder Gas Plant, located near Snyder, Texas, operates a variety of processes to produce petroleum products from pipeline gas and liquids. The gas plant has several regulated flammables, such as methane, ethane, and propane. The gas plant also uses or processes chlorine, hydrogen sulfide, and sulfuric acid. However, these toxics do not exceed the threshold quantities. Hazard Assessment Results The worst case scenario associated with a release of flammable material is in P rogram 1 at the gas plant is a vapor cloud explosion involving the largest storage tank containing propane. A written procedure is in place to limit the storage inventory to 90% of tank capacity. The total amount of propane released is 274,269 lbs. The maximum distance to the 1-psi endpoint for this WCS is 0.53 miles. No passive mitigation measures were taken into account in evaluating this WCS. General Accidental Release Prevention Program/ Chemical Specific Prevention Steps The Snyder Gas Plant provides for and encourages employees to participate in all facets of process safety management and accident prevention. Torch also provides a variety of technical documents that are used to help maintain safe operation of the processes and chemical handling instructions. Five Year Accident History Torch has had an excellent record of accident prevention over the past 5 years. There has been no deaths or injuries reported on or offsite since June 21, 1994. We investigate every incident very carefully to determine ways to prevent similar incidents from recurring. Emergency Response Program Torch works very closely with the local emergency response authorities to protect worker and public safety as well as the environment. The overall emergency response program the Snyder Gas Plant is coordinated with the Snyder Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC). The coordination include periodic meeting of the committee, which includes local emergency response officials. The Snyder Gas plant has around the clock communications with the appropriate LEPC official and emergency response organizations. This provides a means of notifying the public of an incident, if necessary, as well as facilitating quick response to an incident. Planned Changes to Improve Safety Torch resolves all findings from incidents occurring at the gas plant. If incidents occur, Torch will evaluate all possible methods to reduce or eliminate the risk of any such incident occurring in the future . This could involve decreasing process chemical inventories, change operational procedures, add new or revise detection systems, add or modify equipment, increase training requirements. |