CSB Sharing Final Report on Bayer CropScience Blast Tonight
Seven people, some of whom are local, are scheduled to testify about the recommendations to the board during its meeting in Institute, W.Va., where the 2008 explosion occurred.
A big case investigated by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board is reaching a milepost tonight when the board meets at West Virginia State University in Institute, W.Va., to present the findings from the staff's final investigative report on the Aug. 28, 2008, explosion of a waste tank at Bayer CropScience's plant there. Institute is an industrial suburb of Charleston, the state's capital, which is one reason CSB has been concerned about the plant's use of methyl isocyanate (MIC) to produce pesticides.
MIC is the chemical spilled at Bhopal, India, in 1984. The Institute plant's ownership committed to reduce the MIC stored there by 80 percent, but the residual amount is still a concern; CSB last year commissioned a National Academy of Sciences study of how the MIC still used at the plant can be reduced or eliminated.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. local time. After the investigative team presents its report, these people are scheduled to testify about the proposed recommendations:
- Kent Carper – President, Kanawha County Commission
- Dr. Rahul Gupta, MD, MPH, FACP – Health Officer and Executive Director, Kanawha-Charleston Health Department
- Joe Davenport - Director of Union Health, Safety and Environment, IAMAW Local 656
- Pam Nixon – Environmental Advocate, WV Department of Environmental Protection
- Maya Nye – Spokeswoman, People Concerned about MIC
- Jim Payne – President, United Steelworkers Local 5, California
- Randy Sawyer –Hazardous Materials Programs Director, Contra Costa County, California