“Together, the EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state’s environmental regulatory agency, have fined TPC for air emissions violations more than half a dozen times in the past five years after finding many of the missteps preventable. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for more than two years, and been out of compliance with federal clean air laws since the agency’s last inspection in August 2017.”

The Texas Tribune reported that the TPC plant “has been considered a high priority violator by the U.S. Though Gouthier described TPC as a good neighbor, the company’s record says otherwise. “We were blessed not to have more damage than we did,” he said. Rodney Gouthier, a longtime Port Neches resident whose house is about a half mile from the plant, told me that in the 32 years he had lived on his block, he never experienced anything like the explosion. He hopes things get back to normal soon, so he can get back to work. The Texas Tribune reported, “as authorities investigate the cause of Wednesday’s explosions, it’s difficult to say whether the Port Neches incident could have been prevented if the rule had been in effect.”īut Heather McTeer Toney, who was an EPA regional administrator under the Obama administration, said, “What we can say with all certainty is that rules like this are critical to ensuring that we’re at least aware and are doing everything that we can to prevent these types of explosions.”Ĭharles English, who was working at the TPC Plant during the shift just before the explosion, expressed thanks that he was not there later, because if he had been he could be dead now. The explosion was a reminder of the potential risk for those that live near petrochemical plants.Įnvironmental advocates are questioning if the Trump administration’s rolling back of standards established by President Barack Obama’s administration following the 2013 West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion, could be responsible for the 2019 explosion. TPC’s plant manufactures highly flammable 1,3 butadiene, a known human carcinogen used to make rubber tires and plastics.

Julie dermansky photo police