Refinery Explosion Rocks Texas Town

(AP/CBS)  An explosion rocked a west Texas oil refinery Monday in a violent blast that shook buildings miles away and injured at least four people, according to the town's mayor.

Big Spring Mayor Russ McEwen told a news conference that one of those workers was sent to a burn unit.

The fire sparked by the blast was under control Monday morning, Lewis said. The Dallas-based company does not know what caused the explosion.

The blast sent black smoke billowing into the sky, closed schools, shut down an interstate and left residents rattled.

"It was extremely scary. You shook you were so scared," said Laura McEwen, the wife of Mayor McEwen who lives about two miles from the refinery. "Our walls shook. It jolted your bed. It was like an earthquake."

According to the CBS News affiliate KOSA's Web site anyone living within a mile of the plant was asked to evacuate.

John Moseley, managing editor of the Big Spring Herald whose downtown office is also about two miles from the refinery, said, "I thought it would knock the walls down."

Two elementary schools were evacuated, then classes were canceled at all nine campuses in the Big Spring school district, said assistant superintendent Carie Dunnam.

Dunnam said bus routes were affected by road closures and that emergency officials were warning of the potential for more explosions. School officials were asking parents to come pick up their children as soon as possible, Dunnam said.

The explosion forced open the doors of the school district's administration building about four miles from the plant, Dunnam said.

"Literally pieces of my ceiling came on top of my head," she said.

The refinery employs about 170 people and produces about 70,000 barrels a day.

Interstate 20 was shut down near the plant, Big Spring police spokesman Roger Sweatt said.

"There's some fire and a whole bunch of smoke," Sweatt said.

[mollydtt]

It is owned by the Dallas-based company, Alon, USA.

[cj7jeepstir]

Good eye Jerkeedoodle! To omit the name of the company that owns the refinery is simply poor journalism.

Posted by mediaeditor at 12:04 PM : Feb 19, 2008

It wasn''t poor journalism. It was intentional. Politics.

[mediaeditor-2009]

Good eye Jerkeedoodle! To omit the name of the company that owns the refinery is simply poor journalism.

[gunnerv1]

And Gasoline went up a quarter a Gallon.

[knyghtwolf]

I used to live in Big Spring, too bad, so sad, my ex-nightmare lives there, hope she got her butte rocked out of bed, she needs to move that earthquake maker she''s sporting now. Her first ex died from an Auto-erotica Asphyxia, which means he choked to death while choking his chicken, and he worked at both the plant there and the prison. Their daughter was 7 when he died and is now 20 years old and has had nine abortions that I know of. Why? No idea but she is as sick as her father was. Funny seeing Big Spring in the news again, last time it was hail stones and murder.

[newsjunky5]

While I''m against increasing our purchase of foreign oil, I think it would be prudent at this juncture to expel Texas from the Union. They have been a drain on our country since 2000.

[tail_honcho]

Better break-out the moped!

[hbevis]

RE: ontheleft

I HOPE YOU DID NOT PAY THE $3.29 PRICE HE WANTED. WHEN SOMETHING IS POSTED AT A CERTAIN PRICE, IT IS ILLEGAL TO TRY AND CHARGE MORE.

[kevzgrl]

Yep, here goes the gas price rollercoaster again, only does anyone else notice that they hike the price when something like this happens, then drop it again real quick, but not as much as they hiked it? Then, next weekend comes, people travel on the weekend, so they hike it again, and then drop it, but not as much as they hiked it, and etc, etc, etc.....

Last week was the Venezuelan threat/cutoff - this week, the refinery blast - wonder what "disaster" will happen next week, so they can raise prices on us yet again.....

I don''t know about any of you, but something smells fishy to me, and it AIN''T the smoke from this fire.

[quetzal0666]

for a while i thought it was the BP Plant going 4th of July again in Houston......
then i saw the pictures, and well its really trajic in any case, Big Spring Texas, nothing there but oilwells and pumpjacks,