HOUSTON (CN) — ExxonMobil said Thursday it is trying to determine what sparked an early morning fire and explosion at its Houston-area refinery that injured four workers.
After the fire started around 1 a.m. Thursday, three of the workers at the refinery in Baytown were flown in a helicopter to the hospital. They reportedly suffered second- and third-degree burns and one of them has a broken leg. Paramedics took the other worker by ambulance to the hospital.
They are all in stable condition, an Exxon manager told reporters early Thursday.
“ExxonMobil emergency response teams have safely extinguished the fire at its Baytown Refinery … The causes of the incident have not yet been determined,” the company tweeted around 10 a.m. Thursday.
Though Exxon claims the incident has not affected air quality, the environmental group Air Alliance Houston warned that particulate matter is always an issue after a fire and urged children, senior citizens and people with respiratory problems to avoid the area.
Such incidents are a common occurrence in Houston as numerous oil refiners, chemical and plastic producers operate plants here and Air Alliance Houston lays the blame in part on lax oversight and enforcement by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
“Chemical fires and explosions happen too often in the Houston area and across Texas because corporations like Exxon Mobil are allowed to operate in a way that endangers families and workers. It was just in 2019 that another fire at Exxon Mobil in Baytown injured 37 people,” the group’s executive director Jennifer Hadayia said in a statement.
Under current Texas regulations, the fines for companies caught polluting or who are found responsible for such calamities are often so miniscule they do not have enough incentive to clean up their operations, Hadayia and other environmental activists say.
“We cannot accept this. These disasters are preventable, and our communities deserve greater accountability, transparency and protections,” she added.
Exxon’s refinery is part of a 3,200-acre oil-and-chemical-production complex it operates in Baytown with around 7,000 employees.
Hurricane Harvey in August 2017 caused another disaster at the complex when 457 million gallons of oily wastewater was discharged into a creek.
The refinery is the one of the largest in the U.S. and produces an average of 561,000 barrels of oil per day.
Experts say that given the refinery’s large output, Thursday’s incident could raise U.S. gasoline prices by next spring but it will not have an immediate impact.
Exxon says it is monitoring the air along the fence line of its complex.
“No shelter in place has been called for our community and near neighbors. We deeply regret any disruption or inconvenience that this incident may have caused the community,” it said.
Follow @cam_langford
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
