Chemical storage has some worried

Some residents remained wary despite assurances about safety at business

CHS fertilizer storage
CHS fertilizer storage

Despite the city's recent attempt to reassure them, some Texarkana, Texas, residents refuse to believe a liquid-fertilizer storage facility in their neighborhood is safe.

Experts have maintained that the chemical solutions stored by CHS Inc. in tanks at 1314 Phenie St. pose no significant danger to those who live nearby, but some residents insist the fertilizer could be making people sick and is capable of causing a powerful explosion. They mistrust City Hall, and one alleges racism is behind placing the facility in a predominately African-American part of town.

"I think they're lying about what they're doing up there. I really do. I mean, I don't know a lot about fertilizer or whatever, but I don't believe you can put that in a neighborhood where people are living, and you've got these trucks going in and out all day long, and how do you know what's coming out in the atmosphere?" said Peggy Green, 73, who has lived at her Lee Street address since high school and suspects the fertilizer site has contributed to her recently diagnosed lung problems.

"You can't tell me they don't have gotdang explosives over there," said Dan Allen, a Lee Street resident since 1974. He has expressed concerns about the facility's safety since at least 2014, when he did so at a zoning board of adjustment meeting regarding how many parking spaces the site must have.

"They could have found anyplace in the world around here in Texarkana to put the plant where there was no community. But yet, still they felt like it was necessary for them to put it in the black neighborhood because the black people don't matter. And no, I am not going to gotdang take that," he said.

CHS acquired the site among the assets of a previous owner as part of a business acquisition, said Annette Degnan, the company's marketing communications director.

Allen and Green voiced their concerns about the the Phenie Street property's zoning compliance and safety to the Texas-side City Council at its May 8 meeting, prompting city staff to prepare a report on the site.

The report was distributed to Ward 1 member Jean Matlock, the neighborhood's representative on the council. Allen and Green said they have read the report but dispute its contents.

"As far as me agreeing with what they have written down, I know it's wrong. I cannot be justified in agreeing with what they have," Allen said.

The report is accurate, said Lisa Thompson, city public information officer.

"The city of Texarkana, Texas, has dedicated itself to being transparent and providing our residents with accurate and timely information always. This report was generated in response to a citizen's concern, and we've done the best we can to answer all questions about the property with factual information. We realize the report might not have been the desired response, but we stand by the information presented," she said.

The city report describes what is stored at the property, including that it is not hazardous. It also explains the site's zoning history and proposes some changes to address residents' concerns.

Two 1 million-gallon tanks on the site hold a solution of urea and ammonium nitrate in water, known as UAN, which is used as a nitrogen-rich liquid fertilizer. A 200,000-gallon tank holds ammonium thiosulfate, another liquid fertilizer. A 3 million-gallon overflow tank is also on the property.

The fertilizers are manufactured in Louisiana and shipped to the Phenie Street location by rail, Degnan said. Using code numbers input into electronic keypads, dealers may access the site and load fertilizer they have purchased into tanker trucks. They then sell the product to farmers.

Confusing liquid UAN with solid ammonium nitrate seems to be causing much of the concern about the Phenie Street tanks.

Under certain conditions, in its solid form ammonium nitrate is a powerful explosive. Ammonium nitrate at a fertilizer plant was the source of a massive 2013 blast in West, Texas, that killed 15, injured more than 160 and destroyed more than 150 buildings. Ammonium nitrate also was the main ingredient in the terrorist truck bomb that destroyed Oklahoma City's Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995, killing 168 and injuring more than 680. A commercially available ammonium nitrate explosive called ANFO is used in mining and for other industrial purposes.

UAN, however, is not explosive and is not considered hazardous in any way, according to CHS, safety data sheets prepared in accordance with Occupational Safety and Health Adminstration regulations, and guidance from the Texas Department of Insurance's State Fire Marshal's Office included in the city report.

"CHS does not handle or store any hazardous materials, as defined by all state and regulatory agencies, on the premises," Degnan said.

"UAN is not considered flammable or combustible. The only way it could become volatile is if all the liquid is boiled off leaving pure ammonium nitrate. This scenario would be highly unlikely," the State Fire Marshal's Office stated.

Allen does not acknowledge a difference between UAN and ammonium nitrate and insists despite any explanation that the Phenie Street site can explode like the West plant did.

"The same thing they had up there (in West), they got the same thing here," he said. "I'm not going to believe nothing they tell me about ammonium nitrate."

The site is in compliance with zoning ordinances, the city report stated. It was zoned "Heavy Industrial" by 1941, archived maps show, and its zoning has never changed.

"Industrial zones allow for chemical storage on the property and only prompt a community notification if the contents being stored on the property pose a risk for residents in the vicinity," the report stated.

The city plans as "a proactive measure" to ask CHS to put National Fire Protection Association hazard indicator symbols on the fertilizer tanks even though the chemicals inside are so low-risk that warning labels are not required by law. And to lessen any nuisance caused by traffic to and from the facility, the city is making new rules.

"A truck route will be assigned by the city and implemented by the company to direct traffic to Phenie Street via Lake Drive and therefore mitigate any excessive traffic through the residential area of the zone," the report stated.

Those accommodations do not satisfy Allen, who said he has been in contact with a lawyer involved with the West explosion. It's only one step he has taken to ensure his side of the story is heard.

"I have written a letter to the governor. I have written a letter to the gotdang OSHA. I have written a letter to the president," he said.

Green remains skeptical about the facility's safety but says she is open to evidence changing her mind.

"Show me some proof that it's not affecting us, then it's a different story. But until I get some actual proof from somebody that actually knows what they're talking about or what they're doing over there, then I don't believe what they're saying," she said.

On Twitter: @RealKarlRichter

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