Another Carbide Plant in W.Va. Hit by Spill, Stench

A spill of 1,000 gallons of foul-smelling chemicals at Union Carbide’s South Charleston plant released a foul odor over the area Tuesday night, the second such incident in two days at company plants in the area.

Mayor Mike Roark said today that the spill has caused a “high anxiety level” among residents of the area.

Roark, appearing on the CBS Morning News, said, however, that the Kanawha Valley is “not ready to throw the towel in on Carbide” or resort to “Carbide bashing.”

“But I would be less than candid if I said we were not more than a little concerned,” he added. “People are skittish and there is a high anxiety level.”

4 Miles From Other Spill

Tuesday night’s spill was four miles from Carbide’s Institute plant, where 500 gallons of aldicarb oxime, which is used to make the pesticide Temik, spewed from a storage tank Sunday and rolled like fog over four nearby towns, sending 135 people to hospitals.

Carl Beard, director of the West Virginia Air Pollution Control Commission, said officials will review Tuesday night’s incident.

“Today we just plan to fine-tune our information and find out the whys,” Beard said.

A woman driving near the plant Tuesday night was treated at the Kanawha Valley Hospital for throat and eye irritation, and officials said 50 people called police or hospitals complaining of nausea and burning eyes.

Union Carbide spokesman Mike Lipscomb said about 1,000 gallons of Ucon, a hydraulic brake fluid; isopropanol, a solvent, and sulfuric acid were spilled into the river.

Beard said isopropanol caused the “air problem. That was the foul smell.”

Lipscomb said the accident was caused by an unexplained pressure buildup during the Ucon manufacturing processing, causing a storage tank valve to release, spilling the chemicals into the river.

He said the unit at South Charleston was shut down immediately and will remain closed while the company investigates.

Roark had said plant supervisors did not find the leak Tuesday night until the Emergency Service Department inquired about the stench reported by alarmed residents.

Lipscomb had a different view.

“We’re saying that apparently we both became aware about the same time,” he said. “As soon as we became aware of it, we made contacts with them and got them involved.”

Officials decided not to evacuate the area or declare an emergency after learning that the chemical was not toxic.

The spill occurred just hours after the company announced that it had halted Temik production at Institute and closed much of a Woodbine, Ga., plant where aldicarb oxime--the chemical that leaked into the air Sunday--is stored.