By LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / January 20, 1999

NORCO – A community meeting spawned from the Dec. 8 accident at ShellChemical and held Thursday at the American Legion Post 195 hall in Norco resulted in heated words and promises from Shell to meet again and more often.

Shell spokesman Don Baker insisted there was no chemical release.

Nevertheless, a group of Diamond Plantation residents, whose homes adjoin Shell Chemical’s facility, insisted they had burning eyes and throats from the incident.

Margie Richard, president of Concerned Citizens of Norco, took an air sample eight hours after the alleged release and likewise insisted she sustained many of the same symptoms that afternoon from the accident’s lingering effects.

“To me, it’s like a slap in the face, like we’re nothing,” Richard stated.

The meeting continued for three hours, joined by state and federal environmental protection representatives.

At 8 a.m. on Dec. 8, Shell reported the overheating of a tank containingmethyl ethyl ketone. Fourth- to sixth-grade students at Norco Elementarywere advised to “shelter in place,” while kindergarten through third-grade students arriving on buses were re-routed to Destrehan High School for the duration of the incident.

Richard called members of a national community-based air sampling project, known as the “Bucket Brigade” of Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), to document a sickly odor in the neighborhood adjoining Shell Chemical.

People in Norco reported a smell of burnt garlic, mixed hydrocarbon smell or possible methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) odor to the samplers. Three dayslater, an independent lab reported high concentrations of MEK.

Shell stated it phoned neighbors to caution them about the accident but, Richard said, “The question came up, which people got phone calls, every hand raised was white.”Later in the day, Shell employees told neighbors the incident was under control and that “no chemicals” were released into the neighborhood.

“Well, that’s a lie!” Richard responded. “It’s denying reality!”Baker noted of the meeting that Richard “used that forum to present her view of the world.”He continued that the lengthy, “rather emotional” meeting will result in a need for follow-up meetings in coming months.

“Shell will continue to meet with the community to better inform and address issues of importance, not only to Shell but also to the community.

This is not a one-way street,” he said.

While Baker said a chemical was not released during the morning incident, he did admit that at noon that same day a tanker truck being unloaded spilled “a couple hundred pounds” of hydrochloric acid. He said it wasquickly cleaned up.

Richard’s air sample was analyzed by Performance Analytical, Simi Valley, Calif. Certified analysts Wilma Subra and Dr. Neil Carman preparedthe analysis report, and Subra attended the meeting as well to present her findings.

According to the analysis, chemicals detected in the sample included MEK, toluene, acetone, methyl tert-butyl ether, benzene, styrene, methylene chloride, chloromethane and trace amounts of ethylbenzene, o-xylene and trichlorofluoromethane.

Some of these chemicals are listed on the Toxics Release Inventory of chemicals monitored by the EPA. The TRI list for Shell Refinery and ShellChemical were compared to the sample in order to identify the source of the detected chemicals.

According to the analysis results, released Jan. 3, MEK is released by ShellChemical at a rate of 43,000 pounds per year through fugitive air emissions and 74,000 pounds per year by stack air emissions. MEK was thechemical of highest concentration in the sample, at 12 parts per billion, eight hours after the incident.

Richard claimed the neighborhood is filled with people suffering from various respiratory ailments and that most of the recent deaths in the area were due to these same ailments and various cancers.

“Nobody is faking this!” she said. “Some people went to the hospital.”

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