What are your area hazards? Chemical Spill Effecting 9 counties, WV

[gryffynklm]

Kanawha, Boone, Cabell, Clay, Jackson, Lincoln, Logan, Putnam and Roane. In the capital city of Charleston
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/10...res-emergency/
MSDS http://www.chemicalbook.com/ProductM...7273771_EN.htm

I'm not effected by the emergency.
The release of 4-Methylcyclohexanol(589-91-3) a coal processing chemical/solvent, was on Elk River that flows in to the Kanawha River. This is a nasty chemical. Customers of West Virginia American Water in the affected areas also got the order from Tomblin on Thursday night: Do not drink, bathe, cook or wash clothes with tap water. The only thing they say you can do with it is flush the toilet. It is a strong irritant that can cause blisters on the skin if the concentration is strong enough. I haven't found any mention of injury or illness from using the water. It seems that the warning got out before the contamination got past water treatment according to several articles. According to technical bulletins the chemical shouldn't last in the water, bottom silt or linger in fish and animal populations.

Funny thing is that the first announcement I read stated and cautioned people Not to rush stores for bottled water. LOL Well that didn't have much effect on slowing things down.

Moral to the story. It doesn't have to be end of the world to find a reason to be prepared.
Part of my hazard assessment includes using EnviroMapper. It is an interactive map that allows you to locate manufactures and usere or waste generators of hazardous chemicals. Check out the maps.


Here are some On Line tools that can help you identify potential risks from an incident like the one in Charleston WV.

EnviroMapper.
http://www.epa.gov/emefdata/em4ef.ht...xt=26253,%20WV

Other searchable maps for EPA related hazards Air, Land, Water, Radiation as well as compliance data,
http://www.epa.gov/enviro/facts/topicsearch.html#water

Community Right to Know act info. Companies are required to report and declare the hazards associated with their business under this act.
http://www.epa.gov/epahome/r2k.htm#comm

[Rick]

'Zactly. I saw the news article and wondered if any of you were affected. I'm glad it was outside your area.

[WolfVanZandt]

Chemical spills are always a local hazard. I've been told by Emergency Management people that Walmart trucks are one of the most dangerous things on the highway. If they wreck, all kinds of stuff will mix with bad results.

In my area, we've had unusual snows, flooding, fires, and even tornadoes the last few years. I hear bubonic plague is a small but real problem here and there are other insect/arachnid carried problems. Of course, Yellowstone could explode and that will be everyone's problem - we'd probably disappear completely in about a half hour; but I read that we don't have to worry about that in our life time - maybe a few earthquakes and lava flows, but no worse.

Zombie apocalypse - yeah, that seems to be a problem.

[finallyME]

I've got a military chemical depot real close.

[Rick]

We had VX stored about 1 hour west of here. They had enough of the stuff to kill several worlds. They spilled 30 gallons during cleanup but they had everything so well contained it didn't leak from the facility and no one got hurt. Considering a drop anywhere on your skin will kill you, 30 gallons would more than suffice. Fortunately, it has all been destroyed and the chemical base deactivated. That's a good thing for humanity and a great thing for everyone that lives near or downwind. I simply can not envision using something like that for any reason. Retaliation or otherwise. We should be more advanced than that.

[Desert Rat!]

Sitting right on top of the San Andreas fault, just hope the quake doesn't last too long when she goes!

[LowKey]

When I was a kid we lived just outside the theoretical blast radius of a large NG storage facility. If the house didn't get flattened, it was sure gonna get singed.

[Williepete]

Chemical spills are always a local hazard. I've been told by Emergency Management people that Walmart trucks are one of the most dangerous things on the highway. If they wreck, all kinds of stuff will mix with .

Wonder why whoever picked on Walmart trucks. Most any truck on the road carries something bad. Just notice how many trucks have that colored placard on all three sides of the trailers. How about what the railroads carry.

Bill

[Old Professor]

Lets see--blizzards, ice storms, tornados, floods, droughts, forest fires - and that's just the weather related hazards. I have experienced all of these since I have lived along Lake Superior.

[Rick]

...and lived to tell the tale.

[Power Giant]

As a young Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune, I, and tens of thousands of others were exposed to the toxic chemicals Benzene, TCE, and PCE in our drinking water. This went on from 1953 until 1987, until Jerry Ensingmer uncovered the fiasco when his daughter died from Leukemia while he was stationed there. Just goes to show you, you don't really know if you're being poisoned, or not in your day to day lives. I currently live in what most would consider the toolies, but am about 250 air miles from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. That place has been leaking radioactivity into the air and into the Columbia river for decades.

[WolfVanZandt]

The rationale of the emergency management people was that such a variety of chemical products are commonly shipped in WalMart trucks giving rise to unpredictable results in the case of a wreck. I see on a Google search on "walmart trucks chemical hazards" that WalMart has been having some problems with lax waste handling practices.