Chemical fires shouldn’t catch Harris County by surprise

On St. Patrick’s Day, I received a call alerting me of the fire at the ITC tank farm, and activated our Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Like people across Harris County, I was disturbed by the ominous black plume that hung over our neighborhoods. I immediately knew we needed to expend every resource available to ensure that people were safe, and that the fire was extinguished as soon as possible.

We launched a response that would come to involve more than 100 responders and 50 partner agencies, but quickly realized there were real gaps. I was not comfortable relying on the facility’s air-quality readings to guide our decision making, and we did not have the equipment to collect readings and share them with the public in real time.

We swept the countryside to get monitors from wherever we could, as fast as we could. We partnered with other jurisdictions, state and federal agencies, hired independent experts, and created an unprecedented air-monitoring system.

It was important to me that the readings be public, so we created a website where our experts could upload air-quality readings as soon as they had them.

Dozens of people worked day and night to make the most of what we had at our disposal. Now that the fires are out, we must build the infrastructure needed for our community to feel informed and safe. We are taking decisive action to make that a reality.

In the short term, we will hold unscrupulous actors accountable. The Harris County fire marshal is leading a multi-agency investigation into the source and ignition of both the ITC fire and one a few days later at KMCO chemical plant. Those investigations could lead to criminal and civil penalties.

The county attorney filed civil actions, and this week Harris County Commissioners Court gave the county attorney the authority to easily file lawsuits of this kind.

The district attorney is also pursuing a criminal suit. Tuesday, my colleagues and I approved four additional prosecutors to look specifically at companies that break the law, so we can level the playing field for those who play by the rules. We must recognize the vital role of industry in our economy. However, we shouldn’t countenance bad actors or compromise on the health and safety of our communities. In the long term, we will undertake the task of overhauling a system that for far too long has neglected environmental safety. This will require building up understaffed agencies and improving technology for air monitoring.

To start this process, Commissioners Court unanimously approved a thorough gap analysis to identify exactly which equipment, staff, and strategic overhauls our county needs. Once this study is complete, we will be better able to put more resources where they are needed.

As we think about how to improve, the work on response and recovery continues. Questions remain about the environmental impact of the ITC and KMCO fires. We’ve been coordinating an effort with the Coast Guard, Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to ensure the companies’ clean-up efforts meet federal and state standards. We will share the evaluations of environmental impacts as soon as we have them.

Throughout this process agencies from across our state and country came together to respond and keep our community safe. My colleagues and I are working with those same partners to improve the current system.

The path to a safe, healthy and resilient Harris County will be long and challenging. But we must never lose sight of the fact that a clean environment, air, and water, are human rights. And it is up to us to protect them.

Hidalgo is Harris County judge.