Avoiding Disaster At Local Plants
For people living near the Axiall Corp. chemical plant in southern Marshall County, the threat of a leak of hazardous chemicals is always present. On Saturday, it became a reality.
Chlorine leaked from a rail car at the plant. An airborne cloud of it drifted south, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people from homes, businesses and other sites.
Fortunately, few outside the plant seem to have suffered serious consequences. Two people, an Axiall employee and a contract worker, were treated and released from a hospital.
Reaction to the leak was swift and effective. That is a tribute to emergency preparedness officials and first responders, especially in Marshall and Wetzel counties. Also deserving of praise are the many others in businesses and the Wetzel County school system who took care of the evacuees.
But the questions of precisely what happened and how to prevent such an accident in the future must be addressed. State and federal agencies will play roles in that — and in determining whether negligence contributed to the leak.
If so, those responsible should be punished severely.
Leaks from chemical plants occur occasionally. Most of the time, mass evacuations are not necessary.
But chlorine can be deadly. Handling it requires nearly fail-safe precautions. Not taking them can result in far worse than what Ohio Valley residents witnessed on Saturday.
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