On July 18, EPA Region 6 received two National Response Center reports indicating an ongoing air release in West Orange, Texas. Region 6 followed up with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) who said the source was unknown but believed it to be a railcar in the vicinity. Two EPA On-Scene Coordinators and technical assistance contractors (START) were activated to respond to the incident.
The EPA was notified by TCEQ that the release was ethyl acrylate from a railcar at the Eagle Railcar Services facility located at 1993 Foreman Road in West Orange, Texas. TCEQ conducted community air monitoring and reported no detections above the action level . TCEQ will follow up with the Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) with a demand letter to address state regulatory issues observed and related to the release.
The EPA arrived and joined Unified Command (UC) with TCEQ, Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) – Southeast District Office, TDEM – Orange County, Orange County Department of Emergency Management, and the Orange County Judge’s Office.
The EPA conducted on-site air monitoring with an X-PID air monitoring meter with a detection limit of 3 parts per million (ppm) and an action level of 8.3 ppm (Acute Exposure Guideline Limit (AEGL) 1 for 10 minutes). The EPA did not detect ethyl acrylate on-site during the response. The railcar was flared while the contents polymerized. The PRP utilized a water blanket to cool the railcar. Once the reaction in the railcar was complete, the pressure in the railcar was at zero pounds per square inch , and only polymerized solids remained.
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