From: DCHAS Secretary <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (18 articles)
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2017 07:09:54 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: 0629DD5A-7BB0-47D7-A76C-213D6BFD113F**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, April 24, 2017 at 7:09:39 AM

A membership benefit of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas

Table of Contents (18 articles)

TRUMP EPA TO SHED CHEMICAL PROGRAMS, GRANTS
Tags: us, public, discovery, environmental

EU PLANS FOR GREATER RESTRICTION OF D4 AND D5
Tags: Europe, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical

ACTIVE METH LAB FOUND DURING TRAFFIC STOP
Tags: us_IN, public, discovery, response, clandestine_lab

TRAIN CAR FIRE INVOLVING CHEMICALS DRAWS CREWS NORTH OF DOWNTOWN
Tags: us_TX, transportation, explosion, response, unknown_chemical

NMMC FOCUSES ON DIRTY NULLAHS, CHEMICAL UNITS
Tags: India, public, release, response, hydrogen_sulfide, waste

LACK OF SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM LED TO FATAL AIRGAS EXPLOSION, U.S. CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD CONCLUDES
Tags: industrial, follow-up, death, other_chemical

HAZMAT TEAMS RESPOND TO SCIENCE EXPERIMENT GONE WRONG
Tags: Canada, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical

NJDEP PROPOSES LIMIT FOR UNREGULATED CHEMICAL THAT'S TAINTED GROUNDWATER AT JOINT BASE
Tags: us_NJ, public, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical

N.H. CONSIDERS STRICTER REGULATION ON RENNIE FARM CHEMICAL
Tags: us_NH, laboratory, follow-up, response, waste

CHEMICAL INDUSTRY TARGETS MOUNTAIN VIEW TCE CLEANUP
Tags: us_CA, industrial, discovery, environmental, other_chemical

LARGO WALMART EVACUATED AFTER REPORTS OF CHEMICAL SMELL INSIDE STORE
Tags: us_FL, public, release, injury, cleaners

US NITROGEN PLANT RELEASED NITRIC ACID VAPORS; EMERGENCY OFFICIALS RESPOND
Tags: us_TN, industrial, release, response, nitric_acid

INDIANAPOLIS FIRE DEPARTMENT AIMS TO LIMIT CANCER RISKS WITH CHEMICAL DETOX SAUNA
Tags: us_IN, industrial, discovery, environmental, toxics

CAS METCALF CENTER EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_MA, laboratory, release, response, solvent

PESTICIDE MAKER DOW CHEMICAL TRIES TO KILL FEDERAL RISK STUDY
Tags: industrial, discovery, environmental, pesticides

STUDY LOOKS AT THE "CHEMICAL SOUP" IN SOME OF THE NATION'S STREAMS
Tags: us_MI, public, discovery, environmental, ag_chems, pesticides, pharmaceutical

HUGE 'BOOM' HEARD SATURDAY CAUSED BY CHEMICAL COMPOUND FOR EXPLODING TARGETS
Tags: us_MI, public, explosion, response, ammonium_nitrate

CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD RELEASES FINAL REPORT ON DEADLY AIRGAS EXPLOSION
Tags: us_FL, transportation, follow-up, death, other_chemical


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TRUMP EPA TO SHED CHEMICAL PROGRAMS, GRANTS
Tags: us, public, discovery, environmental

In a move toward fulfilling his campaign promise to ‰??get rid of‰?? the Environmental Protection Agency ‰??in almost every form,‰?? President Donald J. Trump in March proposed slashing EPA‰??s budget by 31% in fiscal 2018. Details of how the Trump

That document shows the Administration is planning to defund several EPA programs related to chemicals and pesticides, as well as climate change activities. At the same time, the Administration intends to increase fees from industry to help offset some of the agency‰??s costs of reviewing commercial chemicals and registering pesticides.

The leaked document‰??a March 21 memo from the agency‰??s acting chief financial officer, David Bloom‰??has been widely distributed on the internet. EPA officials need to finalize the plan‰??s details, which must undergo White House review before the President sends his full 2018 funding request to Congress next month. Lawmakers can alter the request as they appropriate money for the new fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1.

Nonetheless, the memo indicates which parts of the agency the Trump Administration wants to pare back or kill. Industry and environmental groups are already clamoring to save their favorite EPA programs from getting the ax.

Overall, the President is asking for $5.7 billion in fiscal 2018 funding for EPA. That would be $2.6 billion less than the estimated $8.3 billion the agency could get this year if Congress extends a stopgap funding law that expires on April 28. The memo anticipates elimination of more than 4,000 jobs at EPA in 2018, bringing its workforce down to 11,548 full-time employees.

But the memo shows one apparent bright spot in EPA‰??s budget: an increase of $13.8 million to support work required under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The new chemical safety law, known as the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act, was enacted last year.

....

Also, the plan would eliminate EPA‰??s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program for assessing the risks of toxic chemicals. In an IRIS assessment, the agency provides expert scientific judgments on how much exposure to a particular chemical is safe. EPA regulators in the U.S. and abroad use these numbers to establish cleanup levels for pollution in air, water, and soil. In the U.S., IRIS values affect the affordability and degree of cleanups as well as a polluter‰??s financial liability. The program has historically taken years to finish each assessment and has drawn calls for improvements from industry, Congress, environmental activists, and the National Research Council.

....

The American Chemistry Council (ACC), which represents many chemical manufacturers, declined to comment on the Trump Administration‰??s plans to eradicate the IRIS program. The group says it is ‰??committed to working with the Administration and Congress to ensure EPA has funding to carry out essential responsibilities, including the implementation of the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act.‰??

---------------------------------------------

EU PLANS FOR GREATER RESTRICTION OF D4 AND D5
Tags: Europe, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is expanding its plan for restricting the use of two siloxanes in personal care and other products. The chemicals are octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4) and decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5), both classified as very persistent and very bioaccumulative substances by the European Union. In recent years, ECHA has moved toward restricting the amount of D4 or D5 in wash-off personal care products such as shower gels, shaving foams, and shampoos to no more than 0.1% by weight. At the request of the European Commission, the EU‰??s administrative arm, ECHA is planning to enlarge this expected restriction to cover personal care products designed to be left on the body‰??such as creams‰??as well as consumer and professional products for washing and cleaning. Silicones Europe, a trade association representing major manufacturers of silicones in Europe, supports ECHA‰??s plans for wash-off products. But it calls the move to restrict the two siloxanes !
in leave-on personal care products ‰??premature.‰?? The industry group is particularly concerned about D5, which it says has unique properties that contribute to product innovation.

---------------------------------------------

ACTIVE METH LAB FOUND DURING TRAFFIC STOP
Tags: us_IN, public, discovery, response, clandestine_lab

Two people were behind bars after a traffic stop yielded an active methamphetamine lab, the Steuben County sheriff's department said.

Police stopped a vehicle shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday on County Road 50 West, just north of Indiana 127, north of Angola, the sheriff's department said.

The driver, Tammy Kimbrough, 48, of LaGrange, was charged with driving with a suspended license. There was also an outstanding warrant from Clark County, charging her with failure to appear to appear in court. The passenger, Rian Houser, 28, also of LaGrange, was charged with domestic battery.

During the process of having the car impounded, officers found an active meth lab inside, along with chemical precursors used to manufacture meth, paraphernalia used to ingest meth and what police believe to be meth, the sheriff's department said.

Kimbrough also was charged with manufacturing and possession of meth, possession of two or more chemical precursors and possession of paraphernalia. Kimbrough was being held in lieu of $16,000 bail in Steuben County and will be transferred to Clark County when bond is posted, police said.

---------------------------------------------

TRAIN CAR FIRE INVOLVING CHEMICALS DRAWS CREWS NORTH OF DOWNTOWN
Tags: us_TX, transportation, explosion, response, unknown_chemical

A train car fire drew first responders north of downtown on Sunday evening.
Just after 6 p.m., Houston Fire Department responded to the blaze near 1498 Chapman, according to a department spokesman.
Neighbors said there was an explosion that shattered windows of nearby homes.
The burning car was carrying at least two chemicals, one of which was quickly identified as non-hazardous. Fire crews were working with railroad representatives to identify the other chemical.
There was no shelter in place order instituted and no one was injured in the blaze, the department said.

---------------------------------------------

NMMC FOCUSES ON DIRTY NULLAHS, CHEMICAL UNITS
Tags: India, public, release, response, hydrogen_sulfide, waste

Navi Mumbai: NMMC will soon undertake two environment-friendly initiatives for its residents. Paying heed to the demand of Koparkhairane residents, the civic body will clean the longest Khairane nullah after MPCB tests confirmed unhealthy presence of hydrogen sulphide in the nullah water.
Secondly, NMMC has forwarded MoEF authorized lab test reports of partially treated industrial waste released by some industrial units in the TTC industrial belt to MPCB for the first time.
These units have been releasing hazardous effluents into the city nullahs and NMMC hopes to mount pressure on MPCB to ensure it takes action under Environment Protection Act, against these errant chemical units.
The residents of new sector 11, Koparkhairane, who were protesting for months about polluted nullahs has reason to cheer. City engineer, Mohan Dagaonkar has cleared the proposal of cleaning the longest Khairane nullah. The civic solid waste management department will also include removal of weeds and other waste on either side of the nullah in the clean-up work prior to monsoon.

---------------------------------------------

LACK OF SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM LED TO FATAL AIRGAS EXPLOSION, U.S. CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD CONCLUDES
Tags: industrial, follow-up, death, other_chemical

A 2016 Airgas facility explosion that killed one worker reveals a gap in federal process safety requirements for facilities that manufacture hazardous substances, a new report says.
The plant in Cantonment, Fla., which makes nitrous oxide, was not in violation of federal regulations when the explosion happened, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) says in an investigation report released last week. OSHA and EPA regulations that require chemical facilities to have process safety management systems largely do not apply to facilities that manufacture nitrous oxide.
‰??Airgas lacked a safety management system to identify, evaluate, and control nitrous oxide process safety hazards, which led to the explosion,‰?? CSB concludes.
‰??Since 1973, the nitrous oxide industry has averaged one major explosion about every seven years,‰?? says CSB, an independent federal agency that investigates serious chemical accidents in the U.S. but does not regulate.
CSB says the explosion at the Airgas facility was most likely caused when a pump heated nitrous oxide above its safe operating limits during transfer from a holding tank to a transport tanker. But damage to the facility, minimal process data, and absence of a surviving eyewitness kept investigators from making a definitive determination.
Nitrous oxide manufacturing has not resumed at the facility. Airgas says it is implementing a process safety initiative for its nitrous oxide business.

---------------------------------------------

HAZMAT TEAMS RESPOND TO SCIENCE EXPERIMENT GONE WRONG
Tags: Canada, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical

The Edmonton Fire Department‰??s hazardous materials unit responded Friday to a chemical incident at the University of Alberta that forced the evacuation of a building.

Maya Filipovic, who speaks for the fire department, said a hazmat crew went to the faculty of science‰??s Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science, and the Biological Sciences building, which were evacuated.

‰??It looks like there was a science experiment going on and there was some sort of chemical reaction that happened,‰?? said Filipovic.

The crew ventilated the fourth floor and worked with staff to determine ‰??what exactly the chemicals were before going in,‰?? she said.

University officials said the building was evacuated as a precaution after someone noticed an odour.

No one was injured and people were allowed back in the building later.

---------------------------------------------

NJDEP PROPOSES LIMIT FOR UNREGULATED CHEMICAL THAT'S TAINTED GROUNDWATER AT JOINT BASE
Tags: us_NJ, public, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical

If the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection approves a proposed groundwater limit for perfluorononanoic acid, it would be the first time the state's environmental regulator has formally adopted a final groundwater standard for an unregulated chemical found in firefighting foam that has tainted several sites on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

Earlier this month, the department announced that its seeking public input for a recommendation that would permanently establish a level of 10 parts per trillion of perfluorononanoic acid, or PFNA, that is allowed in groundwater.

The proposed limit mimics an interim standard that was established by the department in 2015 to regulate how much of the chemical can exist in groundwater before it becomes hazardous to human health.

The DEP is also recommending that the chemical be placed on a list of hazardous substances under the Spill Act, which would require owners and operators of facilities that handle chemicals with PFNA to be responsible for discharge prevention and discharge control.

In its proposal, the department is also looking to amend the Groundwater Quality Standards to set interim standards for 23 chemical components found in groundwater.

Before a decision is made, the department has 60 days from the time the recommendation was posted on April 3 to collect and review public comments. They have another 30 days to adopt it.

---------------------------------------------

N.H. CONSIDERS STRICTER REGULATION ON RENNIE FARM CHEMICAL
Tags: us_NH, laboratory, follow-up, response, waste

West Lebanon ‰?? New Hampshire water quality regulators are working to toughen their standards toward 1,4-dioxane, the chemical found in the area around Rennie Farm, Dartmouth College‰??s former Hanover dump site for lab animals.

The focus in Concord on dioxane, which has presented problems elsewhere in New Hampshire, also comes amid a national push for more stringent regulation of the substance, a synthetic industrial chemical which is classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a ‰??likely human carcinogen.‰??

Michael Wimsatt, director of the Waste Management Division of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, said on Thursday his office is considering strengthening the state standard for ambient water quality for 1,4-dioxane.

The regulatory threshold in New Hampshire stands at 3 parts per billion, Wimsatt said, and his office is thinking of lowering it to 0.35 parts per billion, in line with changing standards from the EPA.

‰??This is something we‰??ve been looking at for some time and trying to figure out where we need to be,‰?? Wimsatt said in an interview, adding that concerns about the implementation of the rule had caused some delays.

The EPA in recent years lowered its recommended water safety threshold for 1,4-dioxane, which appears in many household and commercial products, Wimsatt said.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL INDUSTRY TARGETS MOUNTAIN VIEW TCE CLEANUP
Tags: us_CA, industrial, discovery, environmental, other_chemical

President Donald Trump's promise to bring back jobs by axing regulations is targeting environmental protections on Mountain View's contaminated, yet still valuable, real estate. In recent days, a chemical industry lobbying group is nudging federal officials to gut safety standards for trichloroethylene (TCE), citing the high costs associated with one of Mountain View's Superfund sites.

A March 31 letter sent by the American Chemistry Council singles out Mountain View's Middlefield-Ellis-Whisman (MEW) Superfund site as an example of environmental remediation that has become a money pit. The letter criticizes 2014 guidelines by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to expand the area being monitored for TCE vapor intrusion in Mountain View, estimating it will cost $19 million over the next 30 years. By scaling back these standards, the letter argues, contaminated land could more easily be redeveloped and brought back into productive use.

But local environmental advocates say the call to deregulate TCE, a carcinogenic chemical that is contaminating groundwater in parts of Mountain View, is a ruse that won't bring back manufacturing jobs. They suspect the real motive is to reduce costs for chemical manufacturers and companies obligated to clean up toxic sites.

"This is not about manufacturing jobs, this is about liability," said Mountain View Councilman Lenny Siegel, who is also the executive director for the Center for Public Environmental Oversight. "This is part of an overall effort by polluters and producers of toxic substances to roll back progress that's been made over many years."

---------------------------------------------

LARGO WALMART EVACUATED AFTER REPORTS OF CHEMICAL SMELL INSIDE STORE
Tags: us_FL, public, release, injury, cleaners

LARGO ‰?? Emergency hazardous materials crews were dispatched to a Walmart Supercenter on Friday afternoon after receiving reports of a chemical smell in the store, according to Largo Fire Rescue.

The store at 990 Missouri Ave. N was evacuated. Some people inside the business initially complained of tight throats and were having trouble breathing, according to Largo Fire Rescue, but no one has been hospitalized. The order smelled like a lemon-scented cleaner.

"We don't have anything that's showing on our meters as to be any environmental hazard or contaminant," said Largo deputy fire Chief David Mixson.

---------------------------------------------

US NITROGEN PLANT RELEASED NITRIC ACID VAPORS; EMERGENCY OFFICIALS RESPOND
Tags: us_TN, industrial, release, response, nitric_acid

"Around 6:30 p.m., US Nitrogen experienced a release of nitric acid vapors. The release is dissipating, and no workers were injured.

"As part of standard operating procedure, US Nitrogen notified 911, the Greeneville/Greene County Office of Emergency Management and the Greeneville Fire Department. The Office of Emergency Management is notifying nearby residents of the release as part of its protocol.

"For the safety of our workers and the community, US Nitrogen will cooperate with these agencies and will investigate the cause of the release to ensure that the issues are resolved."

Keep checking back to GreenevilleSun.com for more updates as they become available.

---------------------------------------------

INDIANAPOLIS FIRE DEPARTMENT AIMS TO LIMIT CANCER RISKS WITH CHEMICAL DETOX SAUNA
Tags: us_IN, industrial, discovery, environmental, toxics

The Indianapolis Fire Department (IFD) continues to take aim at Cancer in the Fire Service with the recent purchase of a Chemical Detox Sauna, built to help firefighters eliminate deadly toxins from their body after fighting fires. Firefighters from IFD first discovered the Chemical Detox Sauna at the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC International) in 2015, when Canadian Rodney Palmer, owner of SaunaRay, attended as one of the 875 vendors who exhibit at the conference every year. IFD Firefighters were conducting a full court press with their efforts to eradicate cancer in the fire service and looking for ways to help keep themselves safe. SaunaRay built a product that fully understands a target demographic desperate to stop yet another firefighter dying from Cancer. With the advantage of having the FDIC Conference in Indianapolis, IFD gratefully acknowledges that over the last 22 years they have benefitted from the opportunity to learn the latest techniques in!
firefighter safety, health and training, while utilizing the newest in fire ground tools and apparatus. Not to mention the over 25 Hands on Training classes, 80 workshops and 200 classroom sessions afforded firefighters in Indianapolis and surrounding areas as a thank you from FDIC for the teamwork and hundreds of hours it takes to make the conference happen. Firefighters from over 53 countries are represented amongst the over 30,000 firefighters who attend every year.

Palmer was approached by several IFD Firefighters at the 2015 conference, all asking how the product worked and why it was so beneficial. This deadly disease now reaching epidemic proportions within the fire service, had stricken one too many IFD firefighters and as a department IFD was prepared to strike back. Please see the attachment with information about the SaunaRay Chemical Detox Sauna. In late 2016 Chief Ernest Malone reached out to the 43 House Captains on IFD asking for a wish list of sorts. Within the IFD budget was a small amount of money that he was willing to allocate to one or more ‰??special projects‰?? requests that the house captains thought might benefit the firefighters at their station. One reply came from Station 44 Captain Tim McDonnell, a 30 plus year firefighter and cancer survivor. His wish list request? A SaunaRay Chemical Detox Sauna. He was one of the members who inquired about the sauna at the conference in 2015 and knew from the subsequen!
t research that this could be the IFD‰??s next step. Chief Ernest Malone couldn‰??t agree more. A small price to pay for the enormous opportunity to give the firefighters the necessary tools to stay safe and ownership in the knowledge that ours is a dangerous profession but it doesn‰??t have to kill us.

---------------------------------------------

CAS METCALF CENTER EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_MA, laboratory, release, response, solvent

A chemical spill occurred on the fifth floor of a laboratory located at the College of Arts and Sciences‰?? Metcalf Center for Science and Engineering on Thursday evening, Boston University spokesperson Colin Riley said.

The BU Environmental Health and Safety Office, along with the Boston Fire Department Hazardous Materials Unit, responded to the incident, Riley said.

The building was evacuated once the alarm was sounded, Riley said. Responding units inspected the scene to identify the substance, and will follow protocol before reopening the Center.

‰??We‰??re responding to a [chemical] spill, so they‰??re checking to see what the substance is, and they‰??ll identify it, check the air quality, clean it up and open the building again, once that‰??s taken care of,‰?? Riley said. ‰??This always entail a very large emergency response, only because of the building and the fact that it‰??s a school.‰??

Riley said the chemical was a solvent, similar to nail polish remover, that had been used in an experiment and had been cleaned up within an hour.

‰??It was just a spill of a solvent, they come in four-liter bottles and the chemical spilled,‰?? Riley said. ‰??They [The BFD Hazmat Unit] put material down that absorbs it and then they disposed of it properly.‰??

---------------------------------------------

PESTICIDE MAKER DOW CHEMICAL TRIES TO KILL FEDERAL RISK STUDY
Tags: industrial, discovery, environmental, pesticides

Dow Chemical is pushing a Trump administration open to scrapping regulations to ignore the findings of federal scientists who point to a family of widely used pesticides as harmful to about 1,800 critically threatened or endangered species.

Lawyers representing Dow, whose CEO is a close adviser to Trump, and two other manufacturers of organophosphates sent letters last week to the heads of three of Trump's Cabinet agencies. The companies asked them "to set aside" the results of government studies the companies contend are fundamentally flawed.

Dow Chemical wrote a $1 million check to help underwrite Trump's inaugural festivities, and its chairman and CEO, Andrew Liveris, heads a White House manufacturing working group.

The industry's request comes after EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced last month he was reversing an Obama-era effort to bar the use of Dow's chlorpyrifos pesticide on food after recent peer-reviewed studies found that even tiny levels of exposure could hinder the development of children's brains. In his prior job as Oklahoma's attorney general, Pruitt often aligned himself in legal disputes with the interests of executives and corporations who supported his state campaigns. He filed more than a dozen lawsuits seeking to overturn some of the same regulations he is now charged with enforcing.

---------------------------------------------

STUDY LOOKS AT THE "CHEMICAL SOUP" IN SOME OF THE NATION'S STREAMS
Tags: us_MI, public, discovery, environmental, ag_chems, pesticides, pharmaceutical

A lot of different chemicals end up in our rivers and streams.

Researchers are finding these mixtures of chemicals are more complex than we thought, and it could hurt fish and other creatures.

Dana Kolpin is a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and an author of the new study in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

He and his team tested 38 streams and rivers across the country for 719 chemicals. They found as many as 161 different chemicals in one waterway (the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal).

‰??Many of these compounds we‰??re finding actually are by design meant to have a biological effect, whether it‰??s a pesticide or a pharmaceutical,‰?? says Kolpin. So, he says that warrants more study to find out what the impacts could be on wildlife, and possibly on people.

Kolpin says many of the rivers and streams they tested had a mixture of numerous chemicals.

‰??There‰??s a number of areas that do have a kind of a high impact from a variety of sources, for example, wastewater treatment plants are certainly a big source of contaminants to the environment,‰?? Kaplan says. ‰??In terms of this set of 38 streams, we found that half had at least 70 or more compounds in that single water sample."

---------------------------------------------

HUGE 'BOOM' HEARD SATURDAY CAUSED BY CHEMICAL COMPOUND FOR EXPLODING TARGETS
Tags: us_MI, public, explosion, response, ammonium_nitrate

KENT COUNTY, MI -- A large explosion heard several days ago in Wyoming and Grandville is now being attributed to a chemical compound explosion at a bachelor party.

Kent County sheriff's deputies said Thursday, April 20 that a large amount of Binary X -- an agent for exploding targets -- had been mixed with ammonium nitrate and detonated with a rifle about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, April 15.

The blast was heard by thousands of people in the areas of Grandville, Wyoming and northern Byron Township.

Through investigation with Grandville police, sheriff's deputies learned the explosion happened in the 7100 block of Wilson Avenue SW and they talked to the person responsible.

Kent County Undersheriff Michelle Young said police would not normally get involved with tracking down the source of an explosion -- particularly when no one reported any injuries or damage. But the sheriff's department received dozens of calls about it, prompting the investigation.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD RELEASES FINAL REPORT ON DEADLY AIRGAS EXPLOSION
Tags: us_FL, transportation, follow-up, death, other_chemical

CANTONMENT, Fla. (WEAR) ‰?? The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released the results of their investigation into the death of Jesse Folmar, an Airgas employee killed in an explosion. The incident happened at a plant in Cantonment, Florida in August of 2016.
Nitrous oxide tanks at the plant exploded, destroying the facility and killing Folmar. He was the only employee inside the plant at that time.
The CSB says the hazardous substance was heated through a pump while being transferred into a trailer, causing the explosion.
CSB investigators found that a pump used to transfer nitrous oxide into a trailer heated the gas above its safe operating limit and triggered a violent decomposition reaction. The reaction migrated from the pump into the trailer causing the explosion. The explosion scattered large metal fragments for hundreds of feet, damaged the facility, and killed the Airgas operator.

---------------------------------------------

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