TX chemical plant had poisonous gas leak. GOP Representative upset residents advised to mask up

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Parker Molloy
@ParkerMolloy
A Texas chemical plant released a poisonous gas into the air, but this Texas state representative is mad that people are being advised to avoid said poisonous gas. https://houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/amp/La-Porte-residents-ordered-to-shelter-in-place-as-16389029.php…
Image
Image
4:55 AM · Aug 16, 2021

[OLDMDDEM]

1. I'm old, so I'll say this the old fashioned way

This guy is a zero.

[smb]

4. He's Had His Head Up Trump's Ass So Long, He's Used To Noxious Fumes nt

[Vinca]

2. Briscoe needs to make a fast fact-finding tour and find out if the stuff really does

cause upper respiratory irritation . . . and no mask allowed next to the plant.

[TheRealNorth]

3. You need like a full gas masks for hydrogen sulfide

Cloth masks are not going to be effective. Depending on the amount/concentration released, if the quantity is dangerous enough, people should either shelter in place or evacuate.

[TheBlackAdder]

5. Yeah, I don't get that one either. You need to get some P100's or 3M 6002s.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. Very, Very Dangerous

The IDLH (Immediately Dangerous To Life & Health) level is 100ppm.
Levels up to 50ppm can be managed for 6-8 hours with a yellow labeled respirator, but 100ppm or higher requires SCBA.
I've done some lab work with it in small cylinders. (Don't recall for sure, but maybe 100g quantities.)
It not only was only used in a hood, but it was STORED in a hood, with a scrubber & no off switch on the blower.
Nothing to be taken lightly.

[marble falls]

12. Nice to get short, sweet, accurate information. Especially when it's dangerous to health.

[viva la]

9. Stay indoors-- apparently he objects to that advice too.

What a maroon. These Trumpers are getting downright suicidal.

[Paladin]

7. Somehow I knew it would be Briscoe Cain.

Even in a pool of utter shitheads like the Republican state legislators in Texas, he always seems capable of attaining new depths of stupidity and danger.

[Disaffected]

8. Wearing a face mask

will be of no benefit - you need an "airpack" (full gas proof face covering with an air supply).

Staying indoors will help if all windows and doors are tightly closed.

As for causing "upper respiratory irritation", that's the least of your worries if the concentration is high enough. Rapid or sudden loss of consciousness and death happen at higher doses.

BTW, in higher concentrations, H2S is even more insidious as it causes loss of smell and a false sense of security (with loss of consciousness or death following thereafter). If you are "lucky", you will perhaps regain consciousness and only suffer severe brain damage.

[ProfessorGAC]

15. Activated Carbon Respirators Will Be Ok...

...if the concentration is under 50ppm by volume in air. One respirator will be effective for 6-8 hours.
Now, as someone who has worked with H2S, I wouldn't wear a mask at 40ppm for 8 hours. I'd change the cartridges every 2 hours. The 8 hour TWA (time weighted average) is 10ppm.
The one good thing about H2S is that for most people, the olfactory threshold is 0.1ppm. Almost everyone can detect it by odor at 0.3ppm. So, we can smell it at levels far below the IDLH level. And, it would be a nauseating odor at 10ppm, so people wouldn't really be exposed to that for 8 hours. At 30ppm, it can actually induce nausea.
One needs supplied air at concentrations above 50ppm.
As you might be able to tell, I've worked with H2S, so I knew all the safety data.

[Disaffected]

16. Interesting, I did not know

activated carbon respirators would work (worked in oil patch and don't ever recall seeing one).

Another sobering fact about H2S in higher concentrations is that it can cause almost instantaneous loss of consciousness. There is a term used in the good ol' days in the oil patch, "knocked off a tank" which referred to an unsuspecting worker who climbed to the top of an oil storage tank (containing "sour" crude oil) to manually measure the fluid level, opened the hatch, got a whiff of H2S and fell off the tank, sometimes to his death. Nasty stuff that....

A pretty high number of oil workers have lost their lives or suffered permanent brain damage because of H2S poisoning. Here in Alberta, there are gas wells with 30 or 40% H2S concentration so extreme caution is required in both drilling such wells and operating them. We once had such a gas well blow out a couple of hundred miles north of where I live and one could smell the H2S in the air when the wind was from that direction. I recall having exposed copper wire outside the house that actually turned black as a result.

One of the rules for such a blow out was to get the hell away ASAP and, ignite the well also ASAP to mitigate the H2S escape. Capping such a well was also a perilous job. Thankfully instances of that sort of thing are much less frequent now-a-days.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. If You Worked In An Oil Patch...

...I'm sure you remember the respirators, or the cartridges, that had the yellow or white bands on them.
Those are AC filtration that are effective against acid gasses & organics with; no nitrogen bonds & a derived pH of under 8.
The cartridges with green or magenta are good for ammonia & amines. They have silica & alumina gels and the magenta versions have boric acid mixed in to react with the alkaline gasses to form harmless ammonium borate or amino borate salts.
Back in the 70s or early 80s, some manufacturers tried mixing the two in layers as a universal mask.
But, OSHA & NIOSH hated them because "universal" made it sound like they were good for everything, and the possible misunderstanding could be dangerous.
Common industrial chemicals like toluene or methyl diisocyanates are such that respirators are close to useless. If someone thought "universal" meant good for everything, they could get killed while thinking they were protected.
Those were pulled from the market long ago. The SDS of such materials unambiguously call for SCBA or supplied purified air and positive pressure PPE.
99% of my work with toxic materials was done either in glassware in hoods, or with engineering controls.
But, because I did investigations in large chem facilities, I had to be fit tested every year, in the event that I needed to don a mask for emergency escape.
Part of the testing is knowing how the cartridges all work, and after seeing that yearly for 40+ years, it's hard to forget that stuff!

[Disaffected]

18. I had a job at head office with field trips

so I did not get that close to the details.

At least in an oil or gas field the number of compounds workers came in contact with were probably limited compared to those in chemical processing plants. IIRC there were three principle substance related hazards that had to be dealt with, gas explosions, oil or gas fires and H2S.

[LisaL]

10. He is certainly free to go outside and breathe it all in.

Who is stopping him?

[marble falls]

13. That's just it, no one did. His daddy tole him just to go out back and suck it up and be little man.

[rownesheck]

11. That asshole's

parents need their asses kicked for naming him briscoe. After them, he needs one as well for talking like a complete fucking moron.

[madville]

14. A face mask would be useless against that gas

Them advising that as a way to reduce exposure is dangerous if people believe it offers any protection.