The ITC fire lasted for three days and released dangerous levels of the carcinogen benzene, which lingered in nearby neighborhoods long after public health measures were lifted.
, focused on a 2019 fire at the tank farm that was the focus of the recent public hearing. The series revealed that state and federal regulators had known for nearly 20 years of widespread problems at the facility that burned — Intercontinental Terminals Company — but had done little to force the company to improve.
ITC has faced few consequences for the disaster. The Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 6 office in Dallas ceded all potential Clean Air Act enforcement to the TCEQ. The TCEQ referred the case to the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which filed a lawsuit against ITC in 2019. According to court records, there have been no filings in the case since 2021.
“With this new permit, you’re saying you cannot consider this past incident that you have not even resolved yet,” Carolyn Stone, head of the Channelview Health & Improvement Coalition, said at the hearing. “TCEQ is supposed to be for the quality of the environment and for the people. You have failed in that duty. Do not expand upon that failure by approving this permit.”
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