CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The federal EPA and state DEP are winding down activities at the Ames Goldsmith Catalyst Refiners plant in Institute with a violent chemical reaction claimed two lives on April 22.
Kanawha County Homeland Security Director and Emergency Manager C.W. Sigman told the Kanawha County Commission Tuesday evening both agencies have been on the site since short after the incident occurred.
“They’ve (EPA) has had 11 monitors in the neighborhood and they’ve picked up anything in the neighborhood so they’re scaling that back,” Sigman said. “No reactions, it’s been pretty benign, quiet since the first day.”
Sigman said he has received a preliminary report from the EPA on what it believed happened while workers were decommissioning a tank in the building.
“What they think happened is inadvertently mixed what’s called M2000A with pretty strong acid, nitric acid and got a reaction,” Sigman said. “The reaction gives off hydrogen sulfide which is a poisonous gas.”
Workers had immediate respiratory problems and CPR was performed. Two died at the scene and another was transported in critical condition.
Sigman said there would have likely been more victims had the deadly fumes got out of the building where the tank was located.
“Unfortunately, there were fatalities but luckily most of the product stayed inside of the building. We never got any strong reading outside of the building,” Sigman said.
Sigman said he’s also spoken with the lead investigator with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. He said that team remains in the area conducting its investigation.
All three county commissioners, President Ben Salango, Lance Wheeler and Natalie Tennant praised Sigman and others who responded quickly to the scene.
“Thank you for the work that you’ve done in keeping everyone up-to-date and being transparent for the community and giving us an understanding that we need and being helpful to the media,” Tennant said.
Salango said he was looking forward to after-incident reports that should coming from a number of areas. Sigman said he would review the response of the county’s Emergency Operations Center.
The plant was scheduled to close in June and workers were decommissioning the facility.