Harris County officials, Deer Park residents express frustration after deadly gas leak

A shelter-in-place has been erected for residents in Deer Park and Pasadena after a deadly gas leak Thursday. Two maintenance employees were killed and 13 workers were injured when gas leaked from the PEMEX oil refinery in Deer Park.

According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, workers were performing maintenance on a large flange carrying hydrogen sulfide when the flange failed. The reason for the failure remains unknown.

“We know the type of events that take place here, it’s obviously a very dangerous area,” said Deer Park resident Greg Roberts.

Just three weeks after a major gas pipeline fire in Deer Park, the community is once again facing another tragedy. A gas leak at an oil refinery killed two maintenance workers. PEMEX, a Mexico-based oil refinery, said 13 other workers were also taken to hospital for treatment.

“We’re trying to be helpful, but PEMEX is not a good neighbor,” Harris County District 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia said.

Around 4:40 p.m. this Thursday, dangerous gas was released from a PEMEX unit. At approximately 5:23 p.m., the Deer Park Police Department was notified of the chemical leak. However, some residents said they never received an alert about the toxic gas release.

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“I didn’t get any notification from the city or anything. We wouldn’t have known anything if it had been from a colleague of mine,” Roberts said.

About an hour later, at 7 p.m., the City of Deer Park issued a shelter-in-place order.

“I told the woman, I said ‘we have to go’. Get in the house. We immediately go into the house, lock the doors. Only 30-45 minutes later we heard the sirens,” Roberts said.

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The shelter in place was lifted about two and a half hours later at 9:30 p.m. First responders were finally able to get close enough to the scene at 3:30 a.m. Friday to take the workers who died to the medical examiner. office

Now, Harris County officials are pushing PEMEX to be more transparent and communicate better during emergencies.

“So PEMEX, first of all, did not provide timely information so that we could understand the air monitoring capabilities, the readings of those,” Garcia said.

In a statement, PEMEX CEO Deer Park said:

“Yesterday was a tragic day for us here at PEMEX Deer Park. We are deeply saddened that two people died at our site and that other workers were hospitalized. Our thoughts are with the loved ones of the deceased and the affected workers. The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is available to all employees who need assistance.”