ITC Works To Empty Chemicals From Tanks At Deer Park Facility

DEER PARK, TX — It's been eight days since the first billows of thick black smoke rose from chemical tanks at the Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park. After a weekend of no flair ups, air monitoring alerts, or reported leaks of hazardous materials, officials announced on Monday that the burned out tanks damaged by the fire that burned nearly four days are slowly being emptied.

"The three objectives we were focused on yesterday [Sunday] were product removal from the tanks and tank farm, to remediate the ditches at the ITC property, and to continue remediating our property," said ITC Incident Commander Brent Weber.

Officials said progress was made on all of those objectives without any injuries. However, sections of the Houston Ship Channel have been closed since Friday.

The Houston Ship Channel was closed from Tucker's Bayou to the ITC site on Friday after a dike wall surrounding the fire-damaged chemical storage tanks collapsed and caused a chemical spill in the channel.

U.S. Coast Guard Commander Kevin Oditt said a tank ship traveled through the impacted waterway of the ship channel, and opened the San Jacinto River Monday morning to two-way tow and barge traffic.

Oditt said more the river could reopen later Monday, but the ship channel near the plant facility would remain closed until the oil is cleaned out of the water.

Fire erupted at the facility on March 17, and eventually consumed 9 tanks, many containing gasoline additives.

Alice Richardson, spokeswoman for ITC, said the company has received 1,600 claims as of Friday.

RELATED: 2 Separate Lawsuits Filed In Deer Park Chemical Plant Fire

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