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Worker Dies After Texas City Industrial Accident
by Jonathan S. Harris on February 13, 2012
A man died after being injured late Saturday night in an industrial accident in Texas City. It appears Virgel James Stoker, 26, was injured while working on industrial equipment used to package products at the Dallas Group of America Inc.’s facility at the Port of Texas City. He died shortly after being taken to the hospital. The Galveston Cou...
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Fuel Tank Near Port Of Galveston Burns After Explosion
by Jonathan S. Harris on February 24, 2012
An explosion at a fuel storage and intermodal terminal near the Port of Galveston about 7 p.m. Thursday was heard across the island and into parts of the Galveston County mainland. Firefighters responded to the 3-alarm fire that shut down the road to Pelican Island and left Texas A&M University at Galveston students on lockdown. There were abou...
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BP Reaches Settlement With OSHA For 2009 Violations
by Jonathan S. Harris on July 12, 2012
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and BP announced a partial settlement stemming from safety violations the company’s Texas City refinery was cited for in 2009. BP was fined $87.4 million in 2009 due to a series of safety violations, mostly stemming from changes not made at the plant after a fatal 2005 explosion. BP will pa...
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8 Injured In Montgomery County Gas Explosion
by Jonathan S. Harris on November 07, 2012
An explosion at a propane distribution company near Conroe on Tuesday left eight people injured. Two were flown to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and six were taken by ambulance to Houston-area hospitals, the Montgomery County Fire Marshal’s Office said. Firefighters responded to AmeriGas after an explosion was reported a...
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Worker Dies At Galveston Shipyard
by Jonathan S. Harris on November 12, 2012
A contract worker died last week after a construction-related accident in a Galveston shipyard. The man was operating a backhoe from outside the cab at Southwest Shipyard when he was pinned by the boom.A crew was working on digging a hole at the time of the incident. The worker had gotten off the backhoe and was standing behind it when he went t...
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12 Dead In Algerian Hostage Crisis At Natural Gas Plant
by Matthew D. Shaffer on January 18, 2013
At least 12 have been reported dead as the hostage crisis continues at a BP gas plant in Algeria, including Texas resident Frederick Buttaccio. It is unclear how Buttaccio died during the standoff, but U.S. officials have said his remains had been recovered and family notified. More than a dozen al-Qaeda-linked armed militants attacked the dese...
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Blaze Extinguished At Marathon Refinery In Texas City
by Jonathan S. Harris on March 01, 2013
A fire at the Marathon Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City on Thursday started around hoses connected to one of the tanks, a spokesman for Marathon Petroleum said. No injuries were reported in the fire, which sent thick smoke into the air that was visible from miles away. No shelter-in-place was ordered because of the direction of the wind, Te...
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More than 150 Injured, Up To 15 Missing Or Dead In West Plant Explosion
by Jonathan S. Harris on April 18, 2013
At least 15 people are missing or dead and more than 150 injured after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, on Wednesday evening. The explosion at West Fertilizer Co. began with a fire around 6 p.m. Volunteer firefighters were attempting to extinguish the blaze when an explosion ripped through the plant about two hours later. The...
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Death Toll Up To 12 In West Fertilizer Plant Explosion
by Jonathan S. Harris on April 19, 2013
Authorities on Friday raised the count to 12 dead in the West fertilizer plant explosion. Most fatalities have been firefighters and other emergency responders who arrived on the scene first. About 200 were injured in the blast that rocked this small Texas town about 20 miles north of Waco. Search and rescue operations are continuing as crews s...
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President Declares Emergency, Death Toll Hits 14 After West Plant Explosion
by Jonathan S. Harris on April 20, 2013
On Friday night, President Barack Obama issued an emergency declaration in the West, Texas, fertilizer plant explosion that killed at least 14 people and injured more than 200 on Wednesday. The president pledged disaster relief aid and authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts in this small Texas to...
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Epicenter Of West Plant Explosion Found; Some Residents Allowed Back To Homes
by Jonathan S. Harris on April 22, 2013
Investigators on Sunday announced that they had located the epicenter of the tragic West fertilizer plant explosion. Assistant Texas Fire Marshal Kelly Kistner said investigators would be working inward from the least to most damaged areas as the search continues for the cause of the blast but provided no timeline for a report on the incident. ...
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Fertilizer Plant's Ammonium Nitrate Stores Should Have Been Overseen By Homeland Security
by Jonathan S. Harris on April 23, 2013
The West fertilizer plant that exploded Wednesday, killing at least 14 people, was storing 1,350 times the volume of ammonium nitrate needed to trigger U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) safety oversight. The company that owns the plant, West Fertilizer, had not informed DHS about the potentially explosive fertilizer as it is required ...
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Death Toll Rises To 15 In West Fertilizer Plant Explosion
by Jonathan S. Harris on April 24, 2013
Officials said Tuesday that the number of people who died in the West fertilizer plant explosion stands now at 15. At least 200 people were injured in the tragedy. Mayor Pro Tem Steve Vanek said that they believe all the blast victims have been found. "No more victims. Everything is searched," Vanek said in a news conference Tuesday. Investig...
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Victims Of West Explosion Honored
by Jonathan S. Harris on April 25, 2013
Investigators at the site of the West fertilizer plant explosion raised U.S. and Texas flags to half mast Thursday, followed by a brief moment of silence then the sounding of taps by a Texas Department of Public Safety honor guard. A week after the blast that killed 15 and injured more than 200, a memorial service was also planned for 2 p.m. tod...


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