The only guarantee is to be prepared... for anything.

Diane

Chemical Plants Ready for Y2K, Survey Says
Contra Costa's 11 biggest are prepared
Jason B. Johnson, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, December 6, 1999
)1999 San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/12/06/MN55102.DTL

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

Contra Costa County's biggest chemical and petrochemical plants appear well prepared for the new year and potential glitches from the Y2K computer bug, county officials say.

The Contra Costa County Health Services Department has been surveying the 11 largest chemical and petrochemical handlers in the county since October 1998 as part of a wider safety review.

While there is no way to guarantee there will be no accidents after the clock strikes midnight on December 31, companies surveyed by the county have taken numerous safety precautions, such as having their own reserve generators in case of power failure, officials said.

``A large majority of the companies in the county are going to be off. They're going to take a long holiday,'' said county Hazardous Materials Programs director Lewis Pascalli Jr. ``My biggest concern was the smaller plants, like water treatment.''

The department identified 54 sites at 41 companies throughout the county with the potential for serious accidents.

Ten companies have yet to respond to the surveys.

But four companies -- Boc Gas and Zeneca Research, both of Richmond, the Pinole Water Treatment and Bio-Rad Laboratories of Hercules -- are expected to turn in their surveys sometime next week, Pascalli said.

Other companies that have not responded to the survey said they will be getting out of the hazardous-materials business by the end of the year.

Pascalli said the biggest concern voiced by the surveyed companies was that they would experience a loss of electricity or water from utility companies.

The survey asks if a company has developed its own Y2K emergency plan and stockpiled sufficient supplies such as food, water and backup equipment in case of an emergency.

In its response, officials at Richmond's Chevron Refinery said they spent more than $5 million on Y2K-related activities, including inventory, assessment, contingency planning and training.

The county will have nine safety officers working on New Year's Day, in contrast to the normal practice of having just one worker on call in case of emergency.

Health department spokeswoman Tracy Hein-Silva said the county and private companies are doing everything possible to make the new year safe, in light of the high concentration of chemical and petrochemical companies in the county.

``We can't guarantee that nothing will happen. None of the facilities can guarantee it,'' Silva said. ``(But) we have taken steps to reduce the risk.''

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), December 06, 1999

Answers

Excellent find Diane. Good work!

-- Sheila P (Sheilamars@aol.com), December 06, 1999.

"In its response, officials at Richmond's Chevron Refinery said they spent more than $5 million on Y2K-related activities, including inventory, assessment, contingency planning and training."

Ummmmm - this description seems to be missing the keyword "REMEDIATION." Sounds like they inventoried, assessed, went "OH S**T" and went straight to contingency planning! Not very reassuring, if you ask me.

-- (snoozin@no.more), December 06, 1999.

NONE of the article is reassuring!! Although the headline uses "ready", nowhere in the article is "ready" mentioned... and "compliant"? forgedaboudit. Some have spent a bunch of money... some have taken precautions... some will be "off".. some will be out of the business (!!!) within the next 3 weeks.... but none say they are done with remediation and testing. And its not even clear if the 54 sites with the potential for serious problems are even all of the chemical plants in the area. Are they just the largest or the ones with the most hazardous chemicals? And it sounds like even in the 11 largest that were surveyed, being prepared means having a generator and extra food. Uh... did anybody think to ask about IV&V???

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), December 06, 1999.