The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is urging another federal agency to address hurricanes and other high-wind weather events in planning for the nation’s bulk-power system.
A letter sent by the CSB to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requests that the agency take high-wind weather events into account in future updates of its Transmission System Planning Performance Requirements.
Despite urging from stakeholders, wind events weren’t covered
FERC issued a final rule in June 2023 to ensure the reliability of the bulk-power system during extreme weather events involving excessive heat and cold. However, the agency didn’t include hurricanes and other high-wind weather events in the rule, despite urging from stakeholders.
High-wind weather events can occur independently of extreme heat and cold and could significantly impact the reliability of the bulk-power system, which could lead to hazardous chemical releases due to loss of power at a facility.
CSB offers 2017 Arkema, 2020 Bio-Lab incidents as examples
To drive that point home, the CSB detailed two recent investigations it conducted into chemical releases that impacted local communities and the environment that were caused by similar weather events:
- the Aug. 24, 2017 organic peroxide release and fire at an Arkema facility in Crosby, Texas that was caused by Hurricane Harvey, and
- a trichloroisocyanuric acid (TCCA) release and fire caused by Hurricane Laura on Aug. 27, 2020 at the Bio-Lab Lake Charles facility in Westlake, Louisiana.
Both of these incidents occurred when these Category 4 hurricanes knocked out power and caused critical safety systems in the facilities to fail.
In the Arkema incident, the main power and backup power went out, causing a failure of the facility’s organic peroxide refrigeration systems. The organic peroxide decomposed, resulting in a fire and the release of toxic fumes. That resulted in 21 people seeking medical attention as the fumes traveled across a public highway adjacent to the plant.
The Bio-Lab incident saw multiple buildings at the facility damaged by high winds. The damage allowed rain to contact the TCCA stored inside, causing a chemical reaction that started a fire and decomposition of the chemical. A power outage, and the failure of back-up generators, caused the facility’s fire protection system to fail. The fire and plume of hazardous gases from the TCCA destroyed a production building and damaged other structures, caused a portion of Interstate 10 to close for over 28 hours, and required a shelter-in-place order to be issued for nearby communities.
