Chemical Leaks and Spills Spur Action

It’s a fact of life living in the heart of Industrial America. The same chemicals that make our lives better when used properly can turn potentially dangerous when they are spilled or leak. While most of these close calls turn out to be more nuisance than danger, our city and state officials must treat every event as though it is the “Real McCoy”.

Here at Newschannel 3, our reporters stayed busy covering a Chlorine leak today. This morning, right before dawn, a small amount of chlorine leaked from a CSX tanker in Greenup County Kentucky in the Worthington and Raceland area. Appropriately, a shelter in place was ordered until the exact amount of the contaminant and its potential impact on Kentuckians lives and the environment could be determined.

That shelter in place was lifted by 8:30 and life returned to normal. Still, the lesson to be learned from today’s leak is worth rehashing.

Chlorine has many beneficial uses in our society. It is used to make our drinking water safe and is a well known and used antiseptic. Check that bottle of Clorox bleach in your cabinet and you will find chlorine is an active ingredient. Even one casual whiff of that bleach and you instantly know that you can be seriously hurt by breathing the fumes from this liquid.

When a spill occurs, if it is in gaseous form, the wind will blow the contaminant from point A to point B. The higher the concentration of gas, the more discomfort and hence danger that is present. Circumstances like this demand that those close to the leak/spill remain inside with windows closed and air conditioners turned off. No outside air should be allowed to invade your home.

If you do smell the gas, Dr. Graham Rankin has educated me on the proper way to breathe. “Take a towel or hanky, wet it down and then breathe into the towel”. Graham’s rationale focused on way the water on the towel would break down or make soluble the gas. Basically, you would be breathing a “watered down” version of the Chlorine.

Graham and I reminisced a few years ago about the tragic events in Bhopal India back in 1984 when cyanide gas spilled in an unusually large quantity. Wind currents blew this highly toxic gas into a heavily populated area. Caught off guard, 14 thousand died and 50 thousand incurred injury.

Naturally, it is the memory of Bhopal that keeps officials vigilant in our region.