I lived about 10 minutes from this plant from 6th grade until
I graduated high school and left for university. It seems to
explode pretty regularly, and I know it releases tons of
nastiness into the air on a fairly regular basis. Note: I
don't mean that particular Phillips site; it's only one of
dozens in the immediate area, one of the most
densely-concentrated petrochemical refining areas in the
country. One or another of the facilities inside that area has
an 'accidental release' almost daily.
The day we moved into that house, I was helping my dad finish
some moving-related chores right about sunset when I heard a
loud noise, looked in the general direction of Plant Row and
saw this huge mushroom cloud rise into the sky. I pointed and
asked my chemical engineer dad, "what's that?" "Find your
sisters and take them inside, that's a bunch of people getting
hurt." He was right.
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Whew! It's a good thing George W. Bush's commitment
to the children of Texas includes cleaning up and
strongly regulating the petrochemical industry! Oh,
damn, that's right, his commitment to the
children of Texas included gutting environmental
regulatory budgets so that Texas is now at the bottom
of the country in environmental spending. So now he
parades about calling himself a 'reformer with
results'. What? You didn't know he meant results for
the evil-oil-men? Sure. Who else?
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