Herbicide Kept Near School Community’s Residents Not Told About Lethal Chemical Storage

The importance of water to Eastern Washington has never been disputed, but state and county disaster managers insist that shouldn’t give the local irrigation district the right to store tanks of lethal chemicals beside a public school yard.

Across the street from this town’s one-story, red brick elementary school, 20 white, cylindrical tanks, each the size of a Volkswagen bug, rest on a concrete pad. Each is marked with a skull-and-crossbones, a fish with an “X” through it and a red diamond warning of flammability.

The insulated stainless steel tanks are well labeled. Most of the townsfolk in this agricultural hamlet know that they belong to South Columbia Basin Water District, the provider of water that allows farmers and dusty towns in this dry section of Washington to survive.

But there is a question of how many people, including the parents of the 243 pupils bused in from around Franklin County, know that last week the large canisters bordering the school yard contained almost 60,000 pounds of acrolein, a lethally toxic and explosively flammable herbicide.

The school’s principal does. Bob Misener says the water district insists that the tanks are strong, but he’s still not happy about the possible danger to his charges.

“Our school is just across the street from the tank yard. If one were to break and we had a playground filled with kids I don’t know if we could get them out of harm’s way in time,” he said.

“It’s not just the children,” he added. “I’m not sure the people in Mesa understand what’s in those tanks.”

Federal laws require that companies or individuals who store or use large quantities of hazardous material make that information available to the community.

“There’s no indication (the district) ever reported it,” said Idell Hansen of the Washington Department of Ecology, which operates the community chemical right-to-know database.

“Acrolein is an extremely hazardous substance and there is no excuse for them not reporting,” she said.

No one disputes the potential danger. Acrolein is highly toxic and can react violently to many other agricultural chemicals.

“Acrolein may be fatal if inhaled, absorbed through the skin or swallowed,” the manufacturer warns.

Last September, emergency responders held a disaster exercise where they simulated a forklift puncturing one of the acrolein tanks.

Fire departments, ambulances, state and local police and emergency planners responded to the irrigation district’s storage yards. The other pesticides stored in the sheds and garages - boxes and bags of 2,4-D and slim tanks of xylene - were not involved, according to the scenario.

The drill envisioned a toxic, foul-smelling, tear gas-like plume from the acrolein streaming with what would be a deafening roar from the gashes in the pressurized tank.

Boy scouts, simulating pupils, were herded from the playground into the school’s tiny gymnasium.

“The ventilation system was turned off and all the windows and vents were covered with plastic and sealed with duct tape,” said Danielle Patterson, a program coordinator for the Franklin County Emergency Management Agency.

“It’s called ‘shelter-in-place’ because with a sudden leak like that we probably wouldn’t be able to evacuate the children in time.”

While the exercise responded to acrolein’s toxic hazards, an equal, if not greater danger may be the product’s extreme flammability. Vapors from a leak or rupture could speed along at ground level until an ignition source is reached. A passing car, a spark, a spot of fertilizer on a lawn can cause acrolein to ignite.

Acrolein’s U.S. distributor, Baker Performance Chemicals, insists the quarter-inch-thick tanks are safe. Nevertheless, its research shows that if a single tank - one of the 20 by the school - were to explode, a 354-foot-high fireball could kill everything within 118 feet. The injury zone would extend far beyond that point.

Shannon McDaniel, manager of the South Columbia Basin Irrigation District, says he knows some people are concerned about the storage yard.

“There is very little to worry about. The acrolein is in very solid tanks and we’ve never had a major release in this district,” he said.

Since 1995, he says, discussions have been held about moving the storage site, but “no decision has been made because we understand that a new, safer form of acrolein is being developed.”