Harris County officials and Deer Park residents express frustrations following deadly gas leak
A shelter-in-place has been lifted for residents in Deer Park and Pasadena after a deadly gas leak on Thursday. Two maintenance employees were killed, and 13 workers were injured when a gas leaked from the PEMEX oil refinery in Deer Park.
According to the Harris County Sheriff's Office, workers were conducting maintenance on a large flange that was carrying hydrogen sulfide when the flange failed. The reason for the failure remains unknown.
"We know what kind of events take place here, It’s obviously a very dangerous area," said Greg Roberts, a resident in Deer Park.
Just three weeks after a major pipeline fire in Deer Park, the community is once again facing another tragedy. A gas leak at an oil refinery killed two maintenance employees. PEMEX, a Mexico-based oiled refinery, said 13 other workers were also taken to the hospital to be treated.
"We’re trying to be helpful, but PEMEX is not being a good neighbor," said Commissioner Adrian Garcia, of Harris County Precinct 2.
Around 4:40 p.m. on Thursday, the dangerous gas was released from a PEMEX unit. At approximately 5:23 p.m., the Deer Park Police Department was notified of the chemical leak. However, some residents said they never received an alert about the release of toxic gases.
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"I received no notification at all from the city or anything else. We would have known nothing had it been for a coworker of mine," said Roberts.
About an hour later at 7 p.m., the City of Deer Park issued a shelter in place.
"I told the wife, I said ‘we got to go’. Get in the house. We immediately get in the house, shut the doors. Only 30-45 minutes after that we heard the sirens," said Roberts.
The shelter-in-place was lifted about two and a half hours later at 9:30 p.m. First responders were finally able to get close enough to the scene at 3:30 a.m. on Friday to transport the workers who were killed to the medical examiner's office.
Now, Harris County officials are putting the pressure on PEMEX to be more transparent and have better communication during emergencies.
"So PEMEX, first of all, just failed to provide timely information so that we could understand the air monitoring capabilities, the readings off of those," said Garcia.
In a statement, the CEO of PEMEX Deer Park said:
"Yesterday was a tragic day for us here at PEMEX Deer Park. We are deeply saddened that two people died at our site and that other workers were hospitalized. Our thoughts are with the loved ones of the deceased and the workers who were impacted. Our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is available for all employees needing help."