Markets

Bayer's Lawyers Nix Public Hearing on Explosion at WV Plant

By Jim Edwards

Updated on: February 25, 2009 / 10:29 AM EST / MoneyWatch

Lawyers for Bayer have successfully persuaded the U.S. Chemical Safety Board to delay discussing why a Bayer chemical plant in West Virginia blew up, killing two people, last August. The public meeting, at which the safety board was to brief Kanawha Valley residents on its investigation into the explosion, was planned for March 19. The West Virginia Gazette:

Two weeks ago, Bayer lawyers warned board members and agency staff that the company felt such information should not be discussed in a public forum.
Bayer lawyers cited an obscure maritime law that was intended to keep confidential documents prepared by Bayer for the specific purpose of deterring terrorist attacks on the Institute plant's barge loading facility.
John Bresland, the chemical board's chairman, said this week that his agency decided to call off the public meeting while it looks into Bayer's confidentiality claims.
"We decided it would be better to postpone the meeting and get this issue clarified," Bresland said in a Monday phone interview.

Gazette reporter Ken Ward Jr. has done yeoman's work on this story, which is worth reading in its entirety if you're interested in how chemical companies employ their lawyers to deal with safety inquiries. (You can catch up on the back story via BNET's previous coverage of the explosion here.)

Bayer's lack of disclosure regarding the Institute explosion last August has prompted the governor of West Virginia to attempt to force Bayer to be more honest with the state's populace, particularly the emergency services who have to deal with such fires.

After the explosion occured, Bayer was accused of failing to give emergency responders information about the plant and a security guard allegedly tied up an emergency line. The governor:

While plant emergency crews and company officials were working to control the situation, for too long our own emergency teams did not have access to the plant or the information they needed to respond or share with the public ... That cannot happen again. That's why I am submitting a bill that will require all industrial plants within our state to follow the same reporting guidelines for major accidents as our mine operators. The bill will require industrial facilities to provide access to emergency response officials and will establish a system of communication so our responders have the important information they need to ensure public health and safety.

The Institute plant had a small spill a few days ago.

The chemical released Sunday was liquid cesium sulfate, and it posed no danger to the public, said Larry Kilgore, a shift supervisor at the plant.
The chemical is used as a promoter in a catalyst production process at the plant, said Tom Dover, public affairs manager for Bayer.
The material is stored in large plastic totes in a warehouse on the Institute site, he said.
Workers were moving a pallet of the totes at about 12:26 p.m. Sunday when one of the pallet's edges got caught on a tote's valve, cracking it, Dover said.
About five gallons of the non-toxic liquid was spilled, he said.