The latest count from Baton Rouge Local News
Officials with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) reports that 73 people were injured and one person died in a Thursday morning plant explosion in Geismar, La.
Louisiana State Police now confirm that there has been one fatality. During a news conference with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, he reports that 73 people were injured in the explosion. Eight of those patients are being treated at Baton Rouge General Hospital. Of those eight, only one is in critical condition and two are in serious condition.
The name of the plant employee who died in the explosion has not been released at this time, pending notification of the family, however, Louisiana State Police Col. Mike Edmonson said during the news conference that the man is from Hammond, LA.
Jindal also reports that officials say every plant employee is accounted for, however, there are 10 plant employees still in a safe room in the plant. Their job is to shut down the plant in case of an emergency.
There are reports that 11 of the injured are at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital and another eight or so are at St. Elizabeth Hospital.
The 2-mile radius shelter-in-place has been lifted, however, there are four plants in the area that are still working under the shelter in place.
Officials at the plant say the explosion happened at 8:37 a.m. Louisiana State Police Capt. Doug Cain reports the fire is now out. There were as many as 600 workers in the plant at the time of the explosion.
There is no word on what caused the explosion.
Geismar is about 20 miles south of Baton Rouge, LA.
The American Red Cross disaster volunteers have deployed from around the state and are providing food, water and emotional support to those affected by the explosion.
Governor Bobby Jindal will hold a Unified Command Group meeting today to get an update on the plant explosion. He will then travel to the plant site to get a briefing from local officials. he will then speak to the media and give a report.
DEQ has completed the first round of monitoring around Highways LA 3115 and LA 73 and there was nothing alarming detected initially. The air monitoring area is being expanded now.
The Environmental Protection Agency has mobilized a START Team to help monitor the air quality around the plant.
According to DEQ, the release from the stack is reported to be residual propelyne – this is what’s generating the smoke
According to Louisiana State Police, the evacuation of the plant, shelters in place at Honeywell and PCS (the two neighboring plants) and road closures will be in place until further notice. The shelter in place has been lifted in St. Gabriel.
“We are in the process of accounting for all personnel. Injuries have been reported, the number and extent of those injuries is not known at this point,” said Tom Droege with Williams Geismar Olefins plant in a news release.
The Ascension Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness has set up a reunification center for plant workers and their families at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center at 9039 S. St. Landry Ave, Gonzales, Louisiana.
For those seeking family members, the Ascension Parish Emergency Operations Center has a set up a phone number: 866-380-2303. The EOC will not be able to patch callers through to their family members, but will be able to give callers the status of their loved ones.
The St. George Fire Department dispatched an engine company and a chief officer to East Iberville High School to assist with triage and treatment of patients as requested.
Plant workers were taken by bus to various staging areas.
Homeland Security is also on scene assisting investigators, according to Lester Kenyon, the Public Information Officer for Ascension Parish.
“We train for these types of events because this is a heavy corridor for these types of plants along the Mississippi River,” Kenyon told CNN.
Local routes to the plant have been closed by the local authorities. Here is a list of the road closures:
- LA 74 and LA 30 at LA 3115
- LA 30 at LA 74 is closed
- LA 30 at LA 73
- LA 75 at LA 3115
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, issued the following statement in response to the explosion that occurred this morning at a chemical plant in Geismar, Louisiana:
Senator Boxer said: “I have reached out to the Chemical Safety Board and was told that the Board is actively assessing the explosion that occurred this morning at a Louisiana chemical plant. I intend to follow this situation closely and have asked for updates as they become available.”
According to the company’s website, it provides products to customers in the petrochemical industry. The Geismar plant produces 1.3 billion pounds of ethylene and 90 million pounds of polymer grade propylene, both flammable gases used in industrial chemicals and plastic products.
Almost every plastic is ethylene based. 1.3 billion pounds of It being produced at this plant.
Williams employs more than 4,500 people at this plant. Operations span from the deepwater of the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian Oil Sands.
The Olefin team is responsible for the ethane transportation business consisting of approximately 200 miles of pipelines, as well as a refinery-grade propylene splitter.
A neighboring plant says the major exposure is Butadiene spheres. They say that Williams Olefin has a hydrocarbon fire and the concern is that another explosion could occur and the fire is not under control.
More information will be provided as it becomes available.
A fertilizer plant exploded in West, TX on April 17, killing 15 people – 12 of which were first responders – and injured hundreds. The explosion heavily damaged homes, businesses and schools in the town of 2,800. On Wednesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied additional aid to West.
http://www.wafb.com/story/22581898/64-injured-1-dead-in-chemical-plant-explosion#.UboQUg7-HEM.email
Do you think they may have blown this place up just to justify another “shelter in place” event? I guessed they would become more common after Boston, but they do need excuses to get the people accustomed to this.
It would be interesting to see who (which Rabbi) collects the insurance money, and know just how “profitable” this chemical operation was.
It will be interesting to see. They’ve updated the story and I found a couple of interesting tidbits deep in it. We’ll probably be told as much about this one as we’ve been told about the West, TX explosion.
http://www.wafb.com/story/22581898/73-injured-1-dead-in-chemical-plant-explosion#.UbphKgYnr_M.email
1. “OSHA authorities say that the plant has no inspection history.”
2. “Operations span from the deepwater Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian Oil Sands.”
(in other words, they don’t just make plastics, they provide chemicals used in Fracking)
Should have said Drilling AND Fracking.
What in the F is happening to our country. We have plants blowing up where people actually have jobs, false flags and bridges falling down. Meantime our beloved leaders vote to detain Americans indefinately AGAIN and vow to hunt Snowden down no matter what.
I think we would be better off if pre-school children were running the country.
No shit. That’s what I’ve been saying all day. We have children running our country and little Congressman Cottonball feels the need to use a childhood story to justify indefinite detention again. WTF!! WE HAVE CHILDREN IN CONGRESS!!!!