HARBOR AREA
Committed to independent journalism in the Greater LA/LB Harbor Area for more than 30 years
Rancho LPG: Official Theory vs. Ground Truth—
Safety Gap Expands Into Yawning Chasm By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
Rancho San Pedro’s semi-secret “risk management plan” is riddled with mistakes, some merely humorous, others potentially deadly for tens of thousands of Harbor Area residents, one industry expert says. According to an analysis by 20-plus year oil and gas industry veteran Connie Rutter, who was able to inspect and take notes on the plan, Rancho’s plan shared many errors in common with a previous risk management plan created by Amerigas, the facility’s previous owner, suggesting that Rancho had not actually done a thorough analysis of its own. “I ... was not allowed to have a copy of Rancho’s [risk management plan]; only allowed to ‘make notes,’” Rutter wrote in a summary analysis she recently prepared and submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency. “I hardly think that the plan would pass mus-
Community Announcements:
Harbor Area Los Angeles Harbor Commission Meeting
The Los Angeles Harbor Commission will be meeting at 8:30 a.m. on July 5. Agendas can be found online. Details: www.portoflosangeles.com Venue: Port of Los Angeles Administration Building Location: 425 S. Palos Verdes St., San Pedro San Pedro Bay Historical Society’s downtown museum project will unveil its second window, “Once Upon a Book,” from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on July 5 at Williams’ Book Store. Members of the Historical Society will be on hand to explain this new project that brings history to downtown San Pedro. Venue: Williams Book Store Location: 43 W. 6th St., San Pedro
Old Fort MacArthur Days
In a separate document, intended for public education, Rutter explained that danger more fully. First, butane and propane are gases at ordinary temperatures and pressures. If released during an accident, they will increase more than 200 times in volume so rapidly that they will create a ‘vapor phase explosion,’ a phenomena “which can do great damage” and that is entirely distinct from ordinary ignition. Two sets of figures describe how uniquely dangerous LPG is. First, volatility, the tendency to vaporize, which is measured in pounds per square inch (psi). Rutter lists representative figures: “Propane, 218; Butane, 52; Gasoline, 10, (average); Jet fuel, 0.029; Crude oil, 3.6 (average). Diesel, 0.022, all in pounds per square inch. So, propane is 21.8 times as volatile as gasoline and butane is 5.2 times, the next most volatile substance likely to be stored at terminals.” The second set of figures refers to flammability—how quickly a liquid vaporizes before it
hastens evaporation, and therefore, burning.”
Public Meetings
Rutter’s analysis was completed in advance of a public safety meeting on liquid fuel storage facilities convened by Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino on June 27—hours after this issue of Random Lengths News went to press. Her analysis helped inform a community meeting that took place in advance the previous Thursday at Holy Trinity Parish Center, which also feaSafety Gap/ to p. 4
PTSD Trials Start at Long Beach VA:
Finding Answers to America’s $65O Billion Question By Arthur R. Vinsel, Contributing Writer
Research is flourishing into brain chemistry’s role and new treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the single costliest injury in wars spanning America’s history. The $650 billion—the estimated cost for the next 20 years of PTSD disability benefits to men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and came back home scarred by emotional wound—question is how to cope with it. This is aside from the current annual treatment cost of $6,000 (counseling) to $30,000 (medication and other treatment) per man or woman, for thousands more Veterans Affairs patients who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Cost estimates are up to $3.7 trillion to date, for two un-won wars, states Reuters News Service. Modern weaponry virtually eliminates most close personal combat contact, but as the saying goes, “War is hell,” and it still takes a terrible toll. Government records show 761 American troops were killed in action, from the 2002 invasion of Afghanistan until mid-2010, but during the same period, 817 committed suicide, mostly Army and Marine troops. A recent document filed in the 9th Federal Court of Appeals states 18 veterans commit suicide every day in America and one in every four is enrolled in the VA medical system. Every month, 1,000 vets attempt suicide, VA records show. The search for a successful treatment regimen continues on several fronts but there is no magic silver bullet to quell the costly torment that still
hounds aging vets under treatment, 40 years after the Vietnam war, as well as the 1950-53 Korean Conflict. Medication and psychotherapy remain standard, but fail in many cases. Psychotropic drugs perform differently in different patients and prolonged therapy disrupts employment and family life. Many vets finally give up, but no treatment at all exacerbates problems such as alcohol and drug abuse, crime, violence and societal costs including law enforcement and social services, including welfare. One experiment that utilizes a prosaic method is about to begin at the Long Beach Veterans Affairs Medical Center. It involves injecting an anesthetic—buprivicaine—into the right side of the neck, which is called the stellate ganglion block (SGB). It takes about 10 minutes. The buprivicaine is injected into a starshaped juncture of six nerves near the C6 spinal vertebra. The nerves are killed in one to three shots within one to three years. Similar trials at other facilities show promise rather than perfection, although some patients with severe PTSD symptoms claim “miraculous” results with relief in 30 minutes. Back in 2005, renowned Chicago anesthesiologist Dr. Eugene Lipov developed the SGB approach and retitled it The Chicago Hope for Answers/ to p. 5
June 29 - July 12, 2012
The Fort MacArthur Museum is hosting its annual themed fundraiser, “Old Fort MacArthur Days, “from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 7 and 8, in San Pedro. Museum visitors will have a chance to interact with hundreds of living history performers representing time periods from the days of the Roman legions up through the Vietnam War. Guests can also visit the camp sites to see exhibits on daily life, field craft, battle demonstrations, music, vendors and other entertainments. This is a child-friendly event suitable for all ages. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children younger than 12. Proceeds benefit the restoration, preservation and education programs of the Fort MacArthur Museum. Tickets can be purchased at the front gate to the museum beginning at 10 a.m. on both days and, as always, parking is free. Food and drinks will be available at an additional charge. Details: (562) 577-5052; www.ftmac.org Venue: Fort MacArthur Museum Location: Gaffey and 36th streets
LPG’s Unique Dangers
will burn. “LPG vaporizes instantly or almost instantly, whereas gasoline will vaporize at a rate 1/22 of propane and one-fifth that of butane,” Rutter explains. The difference not only makes LPG fires more dangerous, it renders useless the standard response, fire-fighting foam, which is generally effective against gasoline fires, but is not recommended for LPG fire by the American Petroleum Institute. “The reason is that foam is warmer than the liquid butane which is not yet evaporated, and
The Local Publication You Actually Read
Windows Into the Past
ter for a local body shop, much less for a facility with 25 million gallons of butane,” Rutter wrote in a June 11 cover letter to Mary Wesling, enforcement coordinator for EPA Region IX, headquartered in San Francisco. The most dangerous mistake was the miscalculation of the endpoint of a worst-case scenario release, at half-mile rather than 3 miles, according Rutter’s own calculations. That would mean an impacted area 36 times larger than Rancho’s analysis, with correspondingly more potential fatalities as well—28,000 or even more, if the LPG acts as it usually does, rather than as EPA’s “worst case” scenario dictates. Random Lengths sought a response from Wesling, but did not receive it by press time. Rutter identified 18 other substantive defects in the plan, some of which are clearly life-threatening. For example, she points out, “[U]nder Leak or Spill at Loading/Unloading Rack, it is noted: ‘Consider evacuation of local residents.’ The Fire Department and Police would be the agencies to accomplish this, but they haven’t even been notified under this scenario!” This is just one of several different errors indicating an overall lack of coherence in the plan. Rutter also cites 20 items indicating an “indifference to compliance,” which are less overtly dangerous to public safety, but further indicate an overall carelessness. For example, “On page 3 through 14 there are directions about what to do for a storage cavern leak, but this site has no storage cavern. This is just evidence of the careless use of information from another site without even bothering to proof read it,” Rutter noted. “This shows a general indifference that applies to safety as well,” Rutter reiterated to Random Lengths, “and there’s not that much they can do about safety, because propane and butane are so inherently unsafe.”
Connie Rutter spent more than three decades working in the oil industry—three years as a chemist, 11 as an environmental manager and director, and 20 years as a consultant for ARCO, Shell, Valero and smaller refineries, pipeline and storage companies. Photo: Terrelle Jerricks.
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