ARDEN, W.Va. — The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board released their first factual investigative update into a series of explosions that rocked a tank cleaning site in Barbour County in May and June.
According to the CSB, contract workers at Midland Resources Recovery in Philippi were engaging in a process where they remove mercaptan odor — a chemical that provides a noticeable smell to normally odorless gas — from storage tanks before they are fully decommissioned. In incidents on May 24 and June 20, a combined three people were killed in explosions at Midland Recovery Resources.
The explosion on May 24 claimed the life of 19-year-old Justin Marsh, a native of Philippi. The owner of Midland Recovery Resources, 72-year-old Jan Strmen, was also killed in the first explosion. A third employee, 55-year-old Rex Benntt, was severely injured and required surgery.
On June 20, less than one month after the CSB launched their initial investigation, another explosion rocked the area along Rt. 57 just outside of Philippi. Scott Albertini, 53, a volunteer fire chief from McDonald, Pennsylvania, was working to disassemble a tank when the explosion occurred, according to the preliminary investigation. A bystander told MetroNews in June that the explosion could be heard from several miles away and “the ground shook.”
According to the report, mercaptan must be neutralized so that it is not odorous when storage tanks are scrapped for metal. The two vessels, or tanks, that exploded on May 24 and June 20 were both Peerless MP-85 odorizers.
“Equipment that once contained mercaptan is frequently recycled in a scrap yard, but during the scrap process mercaptan residue can enter the atmosphere,” the update reads. “Even small quantities of released mercaptan can cause complaints and false natural gas leak concerns in the surrounding community.”
The process of deodorizing and ultimately decommissioning these tanks includes adding dilute sodium hypochlorite to react with mercaptan. The chemical compound oxidizes the mercaptan and neutralizes the odor. Once the mixture has reacted for some time, it creates a liquid called “process water,” which is eventually drained from the MP-85s. The vessels are then purged with air before being cut into scrap metal.
The report further reads:
“The explosions likely occurred when unintended chemical reaction(s) caused highly reactive or unstable chemicals to form in the respective vessels, which resulted in the two explosions.”
The CSB investigation remains ongoing.