Guest Post by Andrea M. Shaffer
Two employees were killed last night in an explosion at the BP Toledo, Ohio refinery.
The BP Toledo refinery was “safely shut down” in response to Tuesday night’s fire where two employees died.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Reuters reports:
BP said on Wednesday two of its staff were killed after sustaining injuries in a fire at its 150,800 barrel-per-day Toledo, Ohio, refinery.
“The fire was extinguished last night and refinery was safely shut down and remains offline,” a company spokesperson said.
“All other staff is accounted for and our employee assistance team is on site.”
The cause of the fire is not known, but leaking fumes from a crude unit may have caused the ignition in another unit at the facility, a source told Reuters.
The first report surfaced at 6:35 PM on the WTVG14 abc website
#BREAKING: Massive explosion reported at BP Refinery with reports of injuries
#Oregon | #Ohio
Multiple agencies are responding to a Massive explosion at a BP oil Refinery in Oregon Ohio with Reports of multiple injuries at this time it’s unclear on how many are injured pic.twitter.com/PCyiQoUk5t
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) September 21, 2022
The refinery has been operating for over 100 years on a parcel of land that covers 585 acres and processes approximately 160, 000 barrels of crude oil a day.
This is the fourth fossil fuel disruption/explosion since June in our nation.
Reuters shares that Freeport, Texas, LNG was taken offline on June 8, 2022, and will not return to service until mid-November per “Upstream Energy Explored”.
Freeport, Texas provides 20% of all U.S. LNG processing and one of the largest US exporters in the nation.
On July 7, 2022, in Fort Bend County, near Houston, Texas, an explosion occurred to a natural gas line. The fire was quickly extinguished.
Update: No structures threatened. Media: POC is FBC Fire Marshal https://t.co/mTRrfEz5oU pic.twitter.com/E0wPztJPjj
— Fort Bend Pct 1 Constable (@FortBendPct1) July 7, 2022
On August 24, 2022, Illinois and its surrounding states experienced a major disruption in fuel distribution from a shutdown at the BP facility in Whiting, Illinois. BP experienced an electrical fire at its facility which necessitated an immediate shutdown. This facility supplies a major international airport, distribution centers, automobile and manufacturing region and seaway corridor for the Great Lakes Region.
BP resumed operations on September 16, 2022. Hopefully the backlog will quickly dissipate.
Illinois Business Journal reports,
Governor JB Pritzker announced today that his administration has taken steps to proactively address a shutdown at a BP facility in Whiting, Ind., caused by an electrical fire. Illinois, along with Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, requested and were granted an emergency waiver of federal fuel regulations from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“After learning of the electrical fire at the BP facility in Whiting, our administration has taken proactive steps to increase gas supply and reduce barriers so all Illinoisans have access to the fuel they need,” said Pritzker. “This coordinated effort with our neighboring states will reduce the chance of disruptions and keep the people and businesses of Illinois moving.”
The temporary waiver, which was granted through Sept. 15, 2022, allows for high volatility gasoline to be sold during the summer months, reducing fuel disruptions following the fire which broke out on Aug. 24.
The waiver also means that Illinois corn farmers will provide the needed fuel through their ethanol production, which is a lower emission alternative to gasoline produced without ethanol.
At a time of high inflation, two major fossil fuel production facility shutdowns, previous explosions and disruptions, it begs the question: Why we are experiencing so many major disruptions in our natural fossil fuel supply production/distribution facilities?
This is a developing story.
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