75°
70º | 76°
A chemical leak at the LyondellBasell facility in La Porte on July 27 killed two and injured seven.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo expressed her grief over the incident, which occurred about a week after the city and surrounding areas were required to evacuate following an unrelated chemical incident.
"Heartbroken to hear of the two fatalities at the LyondellBasell facility in La Porte,” Hidalgo tweeted. “Our county and other first responder agencies are working to support the other workers impacted and to verify that the incident is contained. Grateful to all responders."
Her office tweeted that the incident, which occurred at LyondellBasell Industries located at 1515 Miller Cut-Off Rd., around at 7:35 p.m., yielded “no reports of air quality or environmental impacts off site at this time.”
Click2Houston reported that in addition to the half a dozen injured, the Harris County Fire Marshal reported that at least 30 people were examined for possible symptoms.
Officials determined that the chemical involved was glacial acetic acid, a process solvent used to produce purified terephthalic acid.
Company site manager Stephen Goff told Click2Houston that 100,000 pounds of acetic acid was released, but it didn’t take long for the leak to be contained.
ABC13 reported that the two people who perished were identified as plant contractors Shawn Kuhleman, 32, and Dustin Day, 36.
It remains unclear as to how Kuhleman and Day exactly died at the facility.
One of the victims has filed the first lawsuit against LyondellBasell.
Click2Houston reported that attorney Kurt Arnold pursued legal action on behalf of a worker who was injured in the incident.
“The lawsuit names several defendants in addition to LyondellBasell, and it alleges that negligence and gross negligence on behalf of the defendants contributed to the mass casualty incident,” a press release obtained by the station said.