According to the 008 Outfall Response article published on May 11, 2023, the response to the incident at the Deer Park Chemicals facility continues and is being managed by the Unified Command consisting of EPA, TCEQ and Shell.
With the fire extinguished since May 7, crews are working to fully secure the unit to allow investigators to safely enter OP3.
The response team continues to manage the movement of water on the site following the rain which includes deploying preventative boom, vac trucks, skimmers, and other mitigations to clean the site and prevent product from entering the Houston Ship Channel.
We continue to conduct water sampling in the Houston Ship Channel and samples collected on May 10th and early on May 11th indicate pH levels within the acceptable range.
Air monitoring is ongoing and has not detected any harmful levels of chemicals affecting neighboring communities. There is no danger to the nearby community, however residents and neighbors may notice flaring and increased noise from the facility. We are working to minimize the impact to the community as much as possible.
We will continue with incident updates but encourage people to visit our FAQs which are updated regularly.
Our top priority remains the safety of people and the environment.
