Informer: Error, miscommunication led to 2010 release

According to documents filed with the state Department of Environmental Quality, the release resulted from both human error and from a miscommunication between waste generator KMCO Inc. of Crosby, Texas, and local disposal firm Chemical Waste Management.

On the morning of Oct. 15, KMCO, which filters and distills contaminated products for reuse, sent an eight-ton load of waste to Chemical Waste Management in Carlyss. The manifest that accompanied the load described the material as solid waste and indicated that it contained arsenic.

In a section of the document titled “Special Handling Instructions and Additional Information,” KMCO officials had typed: “K Unit Infin Filter Cake.”

According to the waste profile summary submitted to Chemical Waste Management by KMCO, the filter cake — left over from “filtration of lube oil additive” — consisted mostly of diatomaceous earth, paper and cloth.

But the document also says the waste could contain several other substances, in varying proportions, including up to 40 percent neutral oils and petroleum additives and as much as 1 percent zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate, an anticorrosion agent used in lube oil.

When the waste arrived in Carlyss, Chemical Waste Management workers found the load unexpectedly contained about 25 gallons of liquid, and officials contacted Bill Glushko, KMCO’s environmental manager, to ask about it.

According to the discrepancy report filed by Chemical Waste Management, Glushko told the disposal company that “the liquids are entrained liquids from the profiled waste.” The company then moved to process the waste, adding about 7,000 pounds of ash to help stabilize it, at about 3 p.m.

http://www.americanpress.com/opinion/Informer-10-21-12