Gas distributor Airgas and its parent company will pay just over $250,000 to settle Clean Air Act (CAA) violations discovered during inspections following a fatal 2013 explosion at a Texas facility, according to court filings.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reached the deal with Air Liquide Large Industries U.S. LP and Airgas USA LLC to settle claims three facilities in the Houston area and one in Freeport, Texas, failed to adhere to environmental regulations intended to minimize the risk of a chemical accident, according to a report in Law360. The EPA said the facilities did not take all mandated precautions when handling regulated substances.
In addition to paying a $257,000 penalty, the companies agreed to comply with CAA provisions in the future, the Law360 report said. The decree also said several improvement initiatives ended up implemented at the facilities before the consent decree, including assessment of the facilities’ safety and storage practices.
The gas companies did not admit liability or guilt through the agreement, court filings show.
According to a complaint filed with the settlement in Texas federal court, one of the facilities, Laporte #1, owned by Airgas, was the site of a deadly explosion in 2013.
The complaint said the safety system in place to alert employees the air had unsafe levels of carbon monoxide did not double as a sensor for lower explosive limits of other gases, the report said. Such a system could have prevented the blast, which killed one employee and severely injured another, the EPA said.
“No alarm sounded before, during or after the incident,” the EPA said, adding it was feasible for Airgas to have had a device that would prompt an evacuation in a similar unsafe situation.
The fire, which burned for hours, essentially destroyed the structure, which has been out of operation since, court filings said.
The same facility also failed to submit a risk management plan as required by federal law when the amount of hydrogen held at the facility reached a level that requires additional steps for safe handling, the EPA said.
The explosion prompted the agency to investigate other facilities in the area, which revealed additional violations, the EPA said.
Air Liquide operates the three remaining facilities and they did not have a legally mandated risk management plan in place, as required for the amounts of “a flammable mixture of methane and hydrogen” all three had on site, the EPA said. The three also ended up accused by the EPA of not providing clear directions for operating equipment used to handle the regulated substances.