BP's Texas City refinery has lost power...

Just gkt a phone call from the automated emergency system here in town the the BP plant jas lost electricity and a level 3 shelter in place order has been issued.

There is nothing posted yet to local news or city websites, the source is the automated emergency notification system.

Earlier this evening, my wife and I heard what we initially took to be thunder, but now we are not so certain. There is currently a loud, very deep, rumbling coming from the direction of the plants.

Anyone with more information, please post as soon as it is discovered.

Thank you and stay safe.

Hope your not in any danger...Be safe

Record the sound!!

Thanks for the heads up for everyone. You and your family stay safe and if you can keep us posted. I have never heard of a warning "call" before. Is this something new?

The refineries are notorious for keeping things under wraps...even large 'events'. It would have to be something very major for an automated alert to go out. I dispatched for awhile here in Washington State and the shell refinery in Anacortes was in our county. We had all sorts of protocal for handling things....most of it the public never knew about unless there was a death involved and even then most of it was covered up. I was astonished to find out the possible scenarios that could unfold.

All I can say is take any warnings more seriously than presented.

This may be a stupid question, but where exactly is this located??

First off...
BE SAFE!

Please for your safety and for the safety of your loved ones, heed the warnings!!!


A little info on the Texas City Refinery located in Texas City, Texas

The Texas City Refinery is the second-largest oil refinery in the state,and the third-largest in the United States. BP acquired the Texas City refinery as part of its merger with Amoco in 1998.It had an input capacity of 437,000 barrels per day (18,354,000 gallons or 69,477,448 litres) as of January 1, 2005.

SOURCE


Also seems problems have occurred in the past from the same refinery

On March 23, 2005, a fire and explosion occurred at BP's Texas City Refinery in Texas City, Texas, killing 15 workers and injuring more than 170 others. BP was charged with criminal violations of federal environmental laws, and has been subject to lawsuits from the victim's families.

SOURCE

IMPORTANT ADDITION:

Do NOT go outside to record the sound. If it is a shelter in place alert there could very well be dangerous clouds of gas/chemicals in the air. Stay inside. This was one of scenarios we had alerts for. You would be amazed at what is used at the plants. DEADLY stuff. Please, STAY INSIDE.

reply to post by Watcher777


We've had the system in place for quite some time. The City of Texas City Office of Emergency Management operates a notification system that includes information on the chemical plants as well as hurricane and other important data.

The sound is likely too low of a register to be able to be picked up by any device I have presently.

Everyone is asleep (other than myself and my dogs) and is as safe as we are able to be currently.

Thanks for the well-wishes and I will update as new information is found; am currently scouring the tv and local news outlets.

Ah, finally something:

TEXAS CITY — BP’s Texas City refinery lost power to the entire facility about 11 p.m. Monday. Texas City Emergency Management officials have issued a Level 3 shelter-in-place order.

Because of the power outage, BP is flaring to burn off excess product. At least nine large flares could be seen from Interstate 45 and the Texas City Wye.

Source

ETA the sound is probably all those flares burning off at once. Trust me, I ain't goin outside.

No worries. Refineries in texas blow up all the time. Big spring has blown up twice in the last three years. "Nothing to see here, just some staged explosions to justify our price hikes. Please move along."

But seriously, best wishes and don't become collateral damage.

more info...

HOUSTON, April 25 (Reuters) - BP Plc's 475,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Texas City, Texas, lost power at about 11 p.m. local time Monday (0400 GMT Tuesday) sending nearby residents indoors with orders to shut off their air conditioners during the humid night, according to Texas City police.

SOURCE

BP released a statement, "This evening at approximately 10:55 pm, the BP Texas City refinery and chemical plant lost power. The site immediately called the City and declared a level 3 emergency. The City declared a shelter in place for its residents.

MSNBC SOURCE

________________

If this warning is because of a power outage, my question is :
what would happen in a total grid collapse which could be caused
by the massive solar flair that's is predicted to occur in 2012 ?
. . . scary thought .

________________

Update:

The order was lifted at 3 a.m. and the alert level lowered to a Level 2 monitoring situation, Texas City Homeland Security Coordinator Bruce Clawson said. While the threat level was lowered, the city was not going to send out a phone alert until about 6 a.m. so not to wake residents, Clawson said.

But at about 4:40 a.m. power went down at the Valero and Marathon Oil refineries in Texas City. Both of those facilities activated their flare systems.

So, two more refineries now are without power and no one knows why:

Neither BP or Texas City officials could confirm the cause of the outage.

There is some indication because of drought and windy conditions in the county that a build up of salt on power line insulators may be to blame for the power outages. Area refineries and chemical plants experienced power "blips" last week several times, officials said.

I'm left wondering how salt buildup would cause such power disruptions in an area on the coast. I've lived here my entire life (I'm 42) and have never heard of anything like this happening.

While I have not experienced any problems personally, others (likely closer) have:

At least 13 people reported to the emergency room at Mainland Medical Center in Texas City complaining of respiratory problems, officials said.

We live a fair distance away and the air is pretty still at the moment so any pollutants would be not strong spread as far as they might, but the contaminants are just hanging around rather than being dispersed.

Source for above quotes



Probably got the video embedding wrong.

ETA: school has been cancelled in the area and they are having the TAKS (state standardized testing) this week, so it must be a pretty significant event. The schools have to go throghthe state to reschedule this, sk it's not being taken lightly.

Oh, I almost forgot. We have a water shortage too:

GALVESTON — Island officials struck a deal with the city of Houston on Monday to pump water to Galveston to offset the water that’s leaking from the main water supply line for the county.

Source

And why is a main water supply line leaking you ask?

LeBlanc blamed Gulf Coast Water Authority’s former manager for “creating this disaster” because of decisions not to have the needed materials on hand to contend with a rupture of the line.

LeBlanc claimed that two years ago, mid-level managers of the authority asked for the necessary supplies to make emergency repairs should a line rupture. In a cost-saving move, then-manager Robert Istre declined to make the supply purchase, LeBlanc said.

Istre, who already was under fire for his managerial abilities, resigned Thursday. David Sauer, the interim general manager of the authority who was in charge of the authority’s canals and feed lines, confirmed that requests for supplies for the line had been denied.

Source

Well, lookie there. Requests made for spare parts made by people who work on the lines were vetoed by some desk jockey.

Originally posted by ToneDeaf
________________

If this warning is because of a power outage, my question is :
what would happen in a total grid collapse which could be caused
by the massive solar flair that's is predicted to occur in 2012 ?
. . . scary thought .

________________

This has been on my mind as well. I would venture to guess we would have a terrible storm of # and disaster on a scale of epic proportions never been seen.

Jaded please continue to keep us up to date on this. I do find it very very strange that 3 different refineries have been experiencing power outages. Salt on the power lines because of no rain? Sounds like a crock of s* to me.

reply to post by jadedANDcynical

I'm left wondering how salt buildup would cause such power disruptions in an area on the coast. I've lived here my entire life (I'm 42) and have never heard of anything like this happening.

I'm not saying I believe the explanation just yet, but this has been the worst drought year for Texas and Oklahoma since the infamous Dust Bowl! Perhaps it really is a factor. Plus we all know the electric grid is aging, and these power outtages are getting more and more common around the country!

Update:

This is Texas City Emergency Management. The shelter in place has been lifted. I repeat, the shelter in place has been lifted. We will continue to monitor the situation and keep the community informed

Source is my text message inbox.

ETA:

Thank you everyone for your concern. I will continue researching this, especially the cause ifthe power outage to four different chemical refineries and will update as I learn anything new.

Further update:

Although Texas-New Mexico Power supplies electricity to the plants, the power company’s transmission system functioned properly, TNMP spokeswoman Cathy Garber said.

There were four events affecting Texas-New Mexico Power’s transmission system in Texas City, which occurred between 9:25 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. Monday, Garber said.
An event like this can occur for a number of reasons, such as equipment failure or the weather, Garber said. “We do not know what caused these events,” Garber said, “as none of them occurred on Texas-New Mexico Power’s facilities.”

The likely culprit, however, could be salt accumulation on lines and related equipment, she said. “Part of the problem is dryness,” Garber said. “It makes the stuff accumulate on transformers, bushings and all equipment pieces, causing it to crack where it affects the ability of the lines to conduct.”

Although the company wasn’t sure salt was the culprit, it intends to take a proactive approach, Garber said.

“We’ll send teams out to clean the residue off the transformers, physically clean the equipment, since rain isn’t doing it for us,” Garber said.

Source
It seems perfecty plausible, however I'm still not certain this is the specific cause. My dad was a plant supervisor for Houston Lighting & Power (which no longer exists) and I will talk to him later to see what he thinks of this and reply with the results of that conversation.

Heat, dryness, and probably some dated equipment too, since most of these facilities were built in the 70's. Glad nothing serious came of this,but it reminded me of a related subject too, fyi:
15 Million Lives At Risk From Aging Oil Refineries In The U.S.

Peace,
spec

reply to post by jadedANDcynical


Not sure if you're close, but there was a thread earlier today about a loud rumbling in OKC. Is this anywhere close to you?

Originally posted by 1curious1
reply to post by jadedANDcynical

 

Not sure if you're close, but there was a thread earlier today about a loud rumbling in OKC. Is this anywhere close to you?

487.1 miles, so unless it's one unholy loud sound. I doubt I was able to hear it.