Clean Harbors resumes normal activities after incident

News-Times
News-Times

Clean Harbors has resumed its normal activities after an incident Wednesday led to a partial evacuation of a small portion of the facility.

Keith Ferguson, communications manager for Clean Harbors, said a tanker arrived at the El Dorado disposal facility on Wednesday afternoon “with waste material that began to react.” After the truck entered the facility’s gates, “the unanticipated reaction caused a buildup of gas in the tanker that overwhelmed the relief valve and pressurized enough to pop the lid of the tanker,” Ferguson said in an email.

No one was injured in the incident and the contents of the tanker were limited to about a 300 by 800 foot area around the truck in the facility’s parking lot, he said. The release led to an evacuation of “non-essential personnel from a small portion of the facility only as a precaution,” Ferguson said, and no one outside of the Clean Harbors facility was evacuated or ever at risk.

Ferguson said staff immediately began air monitoring and hazardous reading were not detected. Outside officials also visited the site Wednesday to confirm the Clean Harbors findings that no one was in danger and there was no affect on off-site air, land or water, he said.

“Our facility has resumed normal activities,” Ferguson said. “The tanker is no longer a threat and we’re currently cleaning the area. The remaining contents of the tanker are stable and will be disposed of as planned onsite.”

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