Liquid fertilizer tanks have failed only days apart at two separate locations on the east coast, emptying between three and four million gallons, or about 23,000 st, of product. The incidents caused injuries to at least four persons and forced others to leave their homes.
There were no injuries or evacuations when the storage tank at the KinderMorgan Energy Partners terminal in Wilmington, N.C., split open the afternoon of Nov. 7, releasing what company officials reported as more than a million gallons of urea ammonium nitrate. The other tank, at Allied Terminals in Chesapeake, Va., collapsed catastrophically on Nov. 12 while the structure was being worked on, releasing two million gallons of liquid ammonium nitrate.
Kinder Morgan’s site manager was not available for comment, and media officials at corporate headquarters had only limited information. A KinderMorgan spokesman reported there were no injuries associated with the incident, that efforts were concentrated on transferring the liquid fertilizer to other facilities, and that steps were taken to assure that fish in the nearby waters were not affected by the UAN.
Allied Terminal officials were also unavailable, but a Chesapeake fire department official described the event there as “suddenly catastrophic, leaving the sides of the tank blown out and the top collapsed on the ground.” Contractors were working on the tank at the time; at least two were injured, and six others doused with the chemical. Two residents in homes located just across the street from the terminal were also transported to a hospital for treatment.
KinderMorgan spokesman Joe Hollier reported, “There was some product lost, but thanks to the quick response we were able to get aerators on the water in a timely manner to mix the water and product, so there haven’t been any fish kills associated with the spill.” He said the transfer took approximately 24 hours after a dike was quickly constructed to contain the product and an air bag was brought in to help slow down the leak. A barge pump was used to transfer product into two other tanks, and a barge was brought in to provide additional emergency storage. The barge, with about a half-million gallons capacity, reportedly filled up in a short time. Fourteen tanker trucks were assembled along with five vacuum trucks, which were brought in to clean up the area. Hollier said the cause of the rupture was still under investigation.
The Wilmington fire department, which sent a 10-man HazMat team to the site, reported that the KinderMorgan tank contained 2.4 million gallons. David Hines, who heads special operations, told Green Markets that the liquid was “coming out with such great pressure I didn’t think there was anything we could do there.”
He said the rupture occurred at the bottom of the tank under the bottom flange, and the contractor had to struggle to get an airbag into place to halt the flow. Two firefighters in full protective suits tried, but couldn’t get the bag to stay in place over the opening. Hines said his team departed after a couple of hours, and that the contractor ended up pushing it into place with a backhoe. He recalled that the tank didn’t appear to have had any problems in the past and had passed the proper tests, although it had been in place for “quite some time.”
Allied Terminals officials didn’t return phone calls, but Chesapeake Fire Dept. spokesman Steve Johnson told Green Markets that numerous contractors were on the scene pumping and transferring to other storage facilities the 32 percent nitrogen liquid that spilled from the collapsed tank. He confirmed that some families living just across the street had to spend the night at other locations after the chemical flowed across the street, saturating roads and lawns. He said the cause of the tank failure has not been established, and that efforts for now are being concentrated on getting the lives of the neighbors back to normal.
The Allied tank was 35 to 40 feet tall and 80 feet in diameter. Measurements on the KinderMorgan tank were not available.
KinderMorgan said there were a couple of different companies that had product in the tank involved, but that the majority of it was owned by Agrium Inc.’s Crop Production Services. There are approximately 35 tanks at that location.
Agrium spokesman Ashley Harris said his company has product at the Chesapeake location. He said that they’ve been in touch with the Allied Terminals people and have been assured that things will be back to normal in a few days.