Lawsuits Filed in Houston Storage Blaze

The county attorney of Harris County in Texas, Vince Ryan, has sued Intercontinental Terminals Company (ITC) over the multi-day blaze at its storage facility in the Deer Park refinery complex in Houston.

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton had earlier filed a lawsuit against ITC.

The fire that raged for three days starting Mar.17 led to the temporary closure of the Houston Shipping Channel, one of the most important transport arteries for petrochemicals on the US Gulf Coast.

For the duration of the blaze, refineries operating near the site, notably those owned by Shell and LyondellBasell, were forced to cut production. Reports said Valero and Petrobras were also hampered by the channel closure, as were many smaller petchems companies.

In his lawsuit, Ryan said ITC was responsible for violating air emissions legislation in violation of the state’s Clean Air Act, along with discharging industrial waste into nearby waters, which violated both state and county law, and failing to have development permits for buildings on its property.

The debris found in the waterways stemmed in part from firefighting foam, which in turn made the shipping channels unnavigable. As of last week, more than 330,000 barrels had been removed from the tank farm. Additionally, more than 100 ships had to be removed from the channel.

 The thick, black smoke generated by the blaze led authorities to require local residents to shelter in place.

According to news reports, hundreds of damage claims have been filed, while many area residents have been left worried about potential damage to health and the environment. The burning tanks contained naphtha, toluene and xylene, among other chemicals.

Authorities said oil residue from the fire was endangering one of the only native salt marshes left in the Galveston Bay system. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week ran tests for potential pollution elsewhere in the channel and was also monitoring wildlife impacts.

At the beginning of this week, the site of the blaze was due to be inspected by investigators from Harris County Fire Marshal's Office, the US Chemical Safety Board and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Up to now, it had been considered too dangerous.