KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. –The Kanawha Putnam Emergency Planning Committee says it will conduct an official review of the response to the chemical incident at the Ames Goldsmith Catalyst Refiners facility in Institute this month, which left two workers dead and another critically injured.
The committee, which represents Kanawha County, Putnam County, and the city of Charleston, is tasked with developing an all-hazards plan that aims to prepare for various types of emergencies, including flooding, chemical events, terrorist attacks, and shootings.
KPEPC Administrator Thomas Keefer told MetroNews that the committee will collect information on communication, hazard assessment, traffic diversion, and other factors, then refer those findings to committees within the organization.
“So, we’ll take those opportunities to them and have them to help us come up with an improved plan on what the findings is,” Keefer said.
The chemical incident at the facility occurred Wednesday, April 22, at approximately 9:30 a.m. It happened when a violent reaction produced hydrogen sulfide gas, a flammable, highly toxic, colorless gas with a distinctive “rotten egg” smell.
Officials said the workers were assisting with decommissioning the plant, which was scheduled to close in June.
After reports of the incident, portions of Route 25 were shut down, and a shelter-in-place order was issued for a one-mile radius around the facility, including the West Virginia State University campus.
Keefer said he believes the response that day was largely positive, particularly regarding on-scene treatment of individuals, decontamination efforts, public notifications, and street closures.
“A very good job in minimizing any additional exposures, so those are the things you look at critically, you always want to look, even though it did work, how can we make it even more flawless,”
As of last Thursday, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were still at the site, coordinating a sampling and removal plan to ensure that remaining materials inside the facility are properly characterized and safely removed off-site.
Keefer said it is completely normal for a process like that to take time because officials do not want to rush and risk causing another incident.
“You want to understand what’s there, and what the hazards of the materials that may still be present in the building, they were in a state of decommissioning so you know what all still remains to be decommissioned and what affect does this reaction from last week have on the materials that were there,” he said.
The EPA continues to conduct air monitoring inside the facility, along the site perimeter, and in populated downwind areas to protect the community and responders and to help ensure it is safe to re-enter the building. Currently, 12 air monitors have been deployed.
Keefer said the organization is currently gathering information to review its all-hazards plan annexes, which are guidelines for emergency response, to determine whether existing procedures need to be strengthened.
“So, we’ll be looking at those guidelines to see what worked, what didn’t work, we always look for opportunities for improvement, so we’re in that process of trying to look for opportunities to strengthen our existing procedures,” he said.
The investigation into the matter is ongoing by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.