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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 1989)
Page 6 The Battalion Wednesday, October 25, Explosion’s aftermath rocks Pasadena Residents compare life around plants to hazards of sitting on powder keg PASADENA (AP) — Welder kinson quipped, bitterly. “But if you’re gonna die, you’re blast, and 22 missing were p l. ri a i~l i f* \A/i I Izincr'kn r*inr\ Viic c ^—1C J J . T „ tx * _ _ —^ ^ ^ C PASADENA (AP) — Welder Charlie Wilkinson and his friends say life in the Houston Ship Channel petrochemical complex is like work ing on a time bomb while sitting on a powder keg. “And you can toss a Molotov cock tail in there somewhere, too,” Wil kinson quipped, bitterly. Charlie’s buddy, James Davis, a pipefitter, was quick to agree. “If a fire or an explosion doesn’t get you, cancer will,” Davis said. “I’ve lived across the channel at Mont Belvieu all my life, and that’s the biggest time bomb around. ‘But if you’re gonna die, you’re gonna die,” he sar " Wilkinson was in a barbershop and Davis was hunting Monday af ternoon when a series of explosions turned the Phillips Petroleum Co. plastics plant into an inferno. At least two people died in the Analysts say plant explosion may raise prices for industry PASADENA (AP) — The explosion that demolished a Texas plastics plant may have ripped a hole in the in dustry’s world prices, analysts said. The explosion at the Phillips Petroleum Co. plastics plant killed at least two people and injured 124. An other 22 employees remained missing Tuesday. Phillips, which supplies up to 19 percent of a com mon plastic base, has been leading a pack of companies building factories along the Texas Gulf Coast. Com pany officials said Phillips supplies about a third of the world’s plastics and its polyethylene plant No. 5 rep resented a large chunk of their production power. Analysts said if the plant is destroyed or shut down for a while, manufacturers of plastic products like milk jugs and grocery bags could be scrambling for plastic at higher prices. “If the whole thing goes down, there are going to be shortages all over the place,” analyst Bill Kuhlke of De- Witt & Co., a Houston-based chemical consulting firm, told the Houston Chronicle. Phillips bought the 800-acre Pasadena plant in 1948 and has made it a huge complex employing more than 900 people. It turns out more than 2 billion pounds of plastics per year — three-quarters of it polyethylene. But Phillips spokesman Dave Dryden of the firm’s Bartlesville, Okla., headquarters said it was unclear what the loss of the plant would do. “It’s hard to say what the effect might be on the in dustry,” he said. “We’re very early in the assessment (of damages). “There are thousands of different plastics,” Dryden told the Associated Press. “About a third of the world’s plastics are made by Phillips or its contractors.” At a plant in Sweeny, which makes ethylene gas for the Pasadena plant, the company is spending $300 mil lion to add 1.5 billion pounds per year of ethylene. Polyethylene is made from ethylene, a gas derived from natural gas. Phillips pipes ethylene from Sweeny to Pasadena, where it is heated and combined with chemicals to form plastic. The high-density polyethylene comes out as milky, BB-sized pellets that manufacturers shape into motor oil bottles, milk jugs, plastic bottle caps, industrial pipe “I It’s hard to say what the effect might be on the industry. We’re very early in the assessment (of damages).” — Dave Dryden, Phillips spokesman and shopping bags. Phillips also makes polypropylene at the plant, using propylene gas as the base, but industry representatives say those markets are opening. “Neither (polyethylene nor polypropylene) is nearly as tight as it was a year ago,” said Greg Derrick, Phillips’ coordinator for financial communications in Bartles ville, Okla. Dryden said, “The damage we know of was primarily to the polyethylene plant,” which makes 1.5 billion pounds of it per year. It was scheduled to increase pro duction 15 percent in 1990. blast, and 22 missing were presumed dead. “My heart just sank,” Wilkinson said. “I knew something terrible had happened.” Tuesday, he and others con verged on The Barn, a beer and bar becue joint surrounded by chemical plants and patronized by the men and women who work in the indus trial maze. Their’s is an unusual lifestyle. “I wake up every morning won dering what I’m breathing,” said Bonnie Cohen, who lives and works nearby and indicated that the perils of Pasadena are no secret. “It’s not like people come in here every day and say, ‘Thank, God, I’m still alive,’ ” Peggy Webb, a waitress at The Barn, explained. “But they do come in here to unwind. And the danger of a chemical explosion is al ways in the back of their minds.” Her customers concurred. “I really think most of the hands working out here know this could happen to them today or tomorrow or next week,’’said Wilkinson, 40, who has worked in this Houston sub urb of 100,000 for 14 years. At least until Tuesday. Wilkinson said he was fired Tues day morning from his job at the Sol- tex Polymer’s plastics plant, just down Battleground Road from The Barn and not far from the Phillips facility. Wilkinson was a little vague about the circumstances of his dismissal, but seemed unconcerned.' “The Phillips thing made me real ize I’ve got to find another way to make a living,” he said. “I want to make a lot of money for my wife, but I want to live to spend it with her.” While no less cryptic, Davis, 30, said he has no intention of working elsewhere. Webb said she was clearing tables at The Barn when the explosion oc curred and was too stunned to real ize at once what had happened. Explosion reminds plant’s hero of timel spent in Vietnam PASADENA (AP) — It was nothing different than what James Westerfield had done twice before — in Vietnam, with rock ets turning ground into flames beside him and rescue helicopters churning up air overhead. Once again, he instinctively scooped up an injured worker and sprinted for safety as a fire ball came barreling toward him and others frantically running for their lives. Yet, Westerfield says he did nothing exceptional on a most difficult day. “If there hadn’t been dozens of heroes, there would be a lot more people dead out there,” he said. Westerfield, 37, was at the Phil lips Petroleum Co. plastics plant, helping build a new reactor loop complex similar to the one that exploded Monday afternoon. He immediately realized what had gone wrong when he saw a large bluish-white cloud start spreading quickly and ominously. It was a leak, probably hydrogen, he surmised, and he realized those who hesitated were proba bly destined to die. The huge ball of fire grew, hurtling across the ground and blowing down men like rag dolls. “It was a red fireball, absorbing that white cloud, gobbling it up, eating up everything in sight,” Westerfield, a fabricator and su pervisor for Brown & Root, said. “There was no way it was going to stop.” Westerfield said he saw a man who refused to die — knocked down five times as different waves of searing energy pulsed forth but getting up and running every time. But as Westerfield ran, cor rectly anticipating more explo sions, he spotted one of his com pany’s pipe inspectors — a man he knows only as Gary. It was im mediately obvious that Gary had suffered crippling injuries in the first blast and could not get up and take himself to safety. “I carried him to safety," West- erfield said, shrugging casuallyas he looked at thin wisps of smoke still rising from the plant. “I had to get him.” Gut reaction propelled Wester field. He gave no thought to the war wounds he still carries - shrapnel in his legs and back that classify him as a disabled veteran Asked about his injuries, he makes a fist and points to a spot just above his right hand. There is a concave indention, thesizeof a half-dollar. “No nerves,” he explains. “You know, I didn’t think about my injuries. I was more worried I might have done more damage to him. It was clear he had spine and necjt injuries.Thet had to lifeflight him away on one of those boards.” More than 120 people were in jured in the explosion. So far, only two fatalities have been confirmed at the scene. Westerfield said he could only think that he was in Vietnam again as the long minutes ticked off. “I saw that fireball and the choppers overhead, and my first thought was I was back over there,” he said. He wants no thanks for what he did. If they were passing out hero's medals in this town, the glare would produce many dozen points of light. “There ain’t no heroes out here,” Westerfield said. “It was just everybody trying to help ev erybody else. “Now, everybody that got out — they’re all heroe«.” SUPERCUTS The Nation’s #1 Hair Styling Salon Now open in Culpepper Plaza! Supercut - $8 • Students & Professors with I.D.-$7 « Children 13 and under-$6 Introductory Offer for Texas A&M Students & Faculty $2.00 A Regular $8.00 Supercut with this coupon Expires Nov. 15,1989 Mon.-Fri. 9-9 Sat. 9-8 Sun. 10-6 CALL 696-1155 1519 S. Texas (Between Bennigans and Cowhop Junction) - Culpepper Plaza Peace Corps... the benefits are out of this world. While working in the Peace Corps, you I help others to help themselves and you benefit yourself. Some of these benefits I 'Valuable overseas work experience— helpful when applying to grad- uate schools and jobs after Peace Corps; 1 Language skills; Postponement of educational loans; A $5,400 readjustment allowance at the end of your two years; And much more! Look us up. You won’t regret it. Peace Corps Representatives will be on campus to discuss opportunities for overseas service. BA/BS candidates on AGRICULTURE. MATH & SCIENCE are particularly needed. To learn more about how your skills can be put to work, plan to stop be or call: 1-800-442-7294 EXT 124. INFQ TABLE FILM SEMINAR INTERVIEWS Tuesday, OCT. 24 MSC Lobby Wednesday, OCT. 25 Rudder Fountain 9:00-4:00 Tuesday, OCT 24 MSC, ROOM 228 Wednesday, OCT 25 MSC, ROOM 302 7:00 pm both nights Thursday, OCT 26 Career Planning & Placement Rudder Tower 8:30-4:00 **Please bring a completed application to the interview* Peace Corps. the toughest job you’ll ever love ONLY DATE IN TEXAS A G. Rollie White Coliseum Sunday , October 29th at 8 p.m Plenty Of Seats Still Available for $15 at the MSC Box Office for more information call the MSC Box Office (409)845-1234 or for phone orders call 1-800-284-5780 Call battalion Classified 845-0569