Houston refinery shuts off emergency alert system in response to striking USW demands for safety

H-Town's LyondellBasell refinery workers remain among the last of the United Steelworkers union members who have been waiting to go back to work following a national settlement of their strike almost two weeks ago.  Negotiations began again yesterday after a week-long "cooling off" period that the company requested.

Representatives from USW District 227 and LyondellBasell were in the middle of negotiating on (March 14) when the company officials got up and left the room, (USW negotiator Joshua) Lege says. At the request of the company a federal mediator has been involved in the local negotiations from the start. Everyone assumed they were taking a break until the federal mediator came back and told the USW local reps that LyondellBasell's people were leaving and said they needed a "cooling off" period, Lege says.

"We're cooled. We've been cooled down for the last 40 or 50 days on strike, and for the first 30 they wouldn't talk to us at all," Lege says. "This is really turning into a pressure cooker because they won't negotiate with us. They honestly want to break us. They aren't a union company and they don't want a union out there and we believe they're afraid some other sites will start organizing if we get a fair contract here."

But the real news is what's been going on inside that plant over the past few weeks.  Here's Remington Alessi's account from The Anti-Media.

“If something goes wrong at the plant, the guy who saved the company a few bucks on safety equipment still goes home in a nice Cadillac, and I go home in a box,” said Joshua Lege, a striking worker when discussing the disconnect between executives and rank and file employees.

Ordinarily, discussing corporate disregard for safety is heavily discouraged by company policy, but the strike has given employees unusual amounts of media attention. As a result, employees have been able to shed light on what really happens behind the gates of oil refineries, and that reality is quite frightening.

The Emergency Notification System, or ENS, at Houston’s 700-acre LyondellBasell refinery is a warning system installed to notify workers of medical emergencies, fires, and vapor releases. In practice, this is meant to put emergency workers on alert and give anyone nearby the opportunity to protect themselves from potentially hazardous chemical vapors.

The ENS is also how strikers were able to keep track of the significantly increased rate of medical incidents when LyondellBasell brought in untrained workers to replace strikers. For example, a neglected compressor failed and necessitated the flaring off of unidentified chemicals on February 16, 2015.

A USW striker watches as Houston's LyondellBasell refinery flares off
dangerous chemicals after a compressor failed at the plant last month

Flaring is the common and unclean practice of burning off flammable chemicals when pipes and equipment are overpressurized, usually the result of hardware failure. According to refinery workers, if you see a large and sustained flare coming from a refinery, it typically means that repair crews are having a rough day and that you may want to avoid breathing in.

Essentially, the refinery has become much more dangerous in the hands of untrained workers.

[...]

In order to reduce the likelihood of striking employees continuing to report incidents, LyondellBasell recently implemented a new policy. ENS speakers near the front gate where picketers stand were disabled. Though they can still be heard far off in the distance, the notifications are too far off for picketers to identify whether or not they indicate the release of dangerous vapors.

In addition to protecting LyondellBasell’s public image, this can seriously endanger strikers and the nearby community, as vapor clouds can travel for miles before dissipating, and often contain hazardous carcinogens. LyondellBasell has managed to find ways to threaten the health and safety of employees even after they’ve left the plant, because if (or more likely when) the plant feels the need to flare dangerous chemicals, picketers can expect to be gassed without warning just like protestors in Ferguson.

Here, demonstrated, is precisely the reason why the USW went on strike in the first place.  It's not as if DuPont La Porte's recent accident that claimed the lives of four workers, or the former BP/now Marathon facility in Texas City a decade ago which killed 15 are aberrations in the nature of petrochemical operations.  No surprise then that Marathon is also a holdout in the national settlement agreement, known as the "pattern".

Meanwhile, Marathon's Texas City plant is nowhere near a local deal, to the point that a federal negotiator has been brought in to help work things out, according to Reuters. USW spokeswoman Lynn Hancock says that she's not sure if Marathon has even presented the national pattern agreement to the local USW group, also District 13-1.

It's not entirely a surprise that things are rough with the Marathon talks. While some local unions, like the Shell Deer Park arm of District 13-1, actually worked out most of the details on local contracts months ago, Marathon and the Texas City union workers were at odds going into the strike, something noted by (USW chief Lee) Medley and every other local union rep we've talked with over the past few weeks. USW is laying the current holdup at the company's door. "The company refuses to offer the pattern unencumbered," W.E. Sanders, sub-director for USW District 13, which covers Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, explained to Reuters. "The company clearly knows its obligations under the pattern."

Kindly note that none of this has anything to do with climate change concerns, low oil and gas prices threatening the so-called Texas Miracle, or wages and benefits for workers at risk every day on their job, as much so as any police officer or fire fighter.  It's about plant safety; nothing more, nothing less.

Neglect and incompetence is one thing; malfeasance bordering on psychopathy is quite another.  Criminal prosecutors understand the distinctions between manslaughter and premeditated murder.  And so do lowly hardhats who gamble with their life and health at their workplace for the enhanced value benefiting fossil fuel profiteers.

Public pressure must be brought to bear on companies who willfully and maliciously threaten not just their employees, but those who simply live near their plant operations.  And not just the people residing in closest proximity, either.  In a just world, businessmen should not have to be compelled by shame, by law, or by threat of punishment to do what is right and proper, but that's not the world we live in today.

We can continue to allow the greed of corporations to threaten our lives, our health, and our safety, or we can fight back.  Make no mistake; it's going to have to be a fight.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance roots for underdogs even to the detriment of its own brackets as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff argues against having a state spending cap, much less making it tighter.

Libby Shaw, writing for Texas Kaos and contributing to Daily Kos, makes a solid case as to Why The Right is so Wrong given the last few weeks of national political events.

The Poop Cruz is now boarding and ready to set sail, announces PDiddie at Brains and Eggs. Or is that 'shove off'?

Neil at All People Have Value saw the real spirit of Texas at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

The Lewsiville Texan Journal posts the schedule of townhall meetings along the corridor of the I-35 express project, between Denton County and Dallas County.

Egberto Willies passed along the crackdown by CA Gov. Jerry Brown -- whose state has about a year's worth of water remaining -- on Ted Cruz for his climate change denial.

Bluedaze issues the marching orders to Austin and the Texas Lege in order to save your city from being fracked.

And Texas Vox points out that despite Gov. Abbott's call for ethics reform, the legislature is poised to vote on the "Corrupt Incumbent Official Indemnification Act" today.

=============================

The Independent Political Report links to the Longview (TX) News-Journal regarding the Gregg County Libertarian Party, and their hosting of Rep. David Simpson discussing his pro-marijuana legalization bill.

Grits for Breakfast takes note of the Texas state bar's accusations of misconduct against the prosecutor of Cameron Todd Willingham, in his roundup of criminal justice stories from last week.

Concerned Citizens wants to hear voices of support for San Antonio mayoral candidates.

Socratic Gadfly asked state legislators: "Replace the business franchise tax with what?"

Somervell County Salon begged Democrats to please give her someone to vote for besides Hillary Clinton.

The Rag Blog mourns the passing of Austin activist/street vendor Charlie Saulsberry.

Carol Morgan wryly observes that March Madness in the state's capital has nothing to do with college basketball (particularly when all Texas teams were eliminated on the first day of the NCAA tournament).

Better Texas Blog calls the latest effort to restrict spending in the Legislature a really bad idea.

Michael Barajas says to stop calling Houston a "sanctuary city".

Texas Clean Air Matters rounds up the energy, water, and climate bills in the 84th Legislature.

The Texas Election Law Blog highlights systemic issues documented in Battleground Texas' post-election report.

Free Press Houston, reporting from SXSW, has a movie review of the documentary Disaster Playground, about real efforts to deal with the potential calamity of an asteroid hitting the Earth.

Finally, Isiah Carey's Factor links to his video on what you should know before you donate to crowd-funding appeals.

Poop Cruz now boarding, ready to set sail

Or is it shove off?

Sen. Ted Cruz plans to announce Monday that he will run for president of the United States, according to his senior advisers, accelerating his already rapid three-year rise from a tea party insurgent in Texas into a divisive political force in Washington.

Cruz, scheduled to speak Monday at a convocation ceremony at Liberty University in Virginia, will not form an exploratory committee but rather launch a presidential bid outright, said advisers with direct knowledge of his plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had not been made yet. They say he is done exploring and is now ready to become the first Republican presidential candidate.

Over the course of the primary campaign, Cruz will aim to raise between $40 million and $50 million, according to advisers, and dominate with the same tea party voters who supported his underdog senate campaign in 2012.

Since the Republican nominee is likely to need something closer to half a b-b-billion dollars to make 2016's run credible -- and Cruz cannot get to that number; even Sheldon Adelson thinks he's too crazy to be the nominee -- there's another agenda here, and Teddy Schleifer reveals it.

But the key to victory, Cruz advisers believe, is to be the second choice of enough voters in the party's libertarian and social conservative wings to cobble together a coalition to defeat the chosen candidate of the Republican establishment.

A floor fight at the national convention.  There's the really fun part, y'all.  Can you imagine the hilarity -- I used that word purposely -- when their arguments turn into gunfights?  Predicted headline: "Shootout at the RNC Convention". You heard it here first.

Todd Gillman at the Dallas News got out just ahead of Teddy, but without confirming it.  Thus the 'if' leading this analysis.

If Cruz does launch his campaign at Liberty, it would reflect the degree to which he is pinning his hopes on support from the Christian right. He also has strong ties to tea partiers, and has pitched himself as a full-spectrum conservative, able to appeal to those seeking a fiscal conservative and muscular foreign policy.

He wouldn’t be the only one. Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum also will rely on evangelicals as they vie to survive long enough to face the victor from the party’s so-called establishment wing. Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and son and brother of presidents, has a huge fund-raising edge, though at this early stage, many voters favor Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Polling that appears around this time next week should be divined for its effect on the front-Walker as much as what it tells us about Cruz, who has bumped around the bottom of the polls conducted to this point.

I just can't wait for the fireworks.  And the gunfire.  And the explosions.

Update: More from Crooks and Liars.

Sunday Funnies

Scattershooting things I'm reading

-- 2016 will be the Meerkat election.

So today, or maybe yesterday, is the day that Meerkat officially became the social media tool of the 2016 presidential election. The iPhone application, which allows Twitter users to stream live video footage to their followers, debuted at South By Southwest last week and has now firmly caught on with politicians and political reporters. It's not just the kids. Jeb Bush is meerkating. Dan Balz is meerkating. This is happening.

Dan Pfeiffer, the former senior Obama aide, was in Austin for South By Southwest this year and was quite smitten: "Everywhere I have gone here at South by Southwest... people are talking about Meerkat. And if that same discussion is not happening at every media outlet and presidential campaign around the country, they are making a huge mistake," he wrote on Wednesday. "If 2004 was about Meetup, 2008 was about Facebook, and 2012 was about Twitter, 2016 is going to be about Meerkat (or something just like it)."

-- Yes, domestic violence is an epidemic.  Has been for... ever.

The number of American troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq between 2001 and 2012 was 6,488. The number of American women who were murdered by current or ex male partners during that time was 11,766. That's nearly double the amount of casualties lost during war.

Women are much more likely to be victims of intimate partner violence with 85 percent of domestic abuse victims being women and 15 percent men. Too many women have been held captive by domestic violence -- whether through physical abuse, financial abuse, emotional abuse or a combination of all three.

We are inundated with news stories about domestic violence , from athletes beating their significant others in public elevators or in their own homes to celebrities publicly abusing their girlfriends. This problem is not one that will go away quickly or quietly.

As Domestic Violence Awareness Month comes to an end, discussions about intimate partner abuse and its horrible repercussions should not. In an attempt to illustrate the gravity of abuse all genders (but largely women) face in the U.S., we rounded up 30 statistics on domestic violence. 

I had to take my anti-nausea medication, but I got through the entire article.

-- More photos of our national moral stain are on the way.

A federal judge ruled on Friday that the U.S. government must release photographs showing the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and other sites.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan ruled that his order would not take effect for 60 days to give the U.S. Department of Defense time to decide whether to appeal.

The order is a victory for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit against the government in 2004 seeking the release of the photographs.

"The photos are crucial to the public record," ACLU deputy legal director Jameel Jaffer said in a news release. "They're the best evidence of what took place in the military's detention centers, and their disclosure would help the public better understand the implications of some of the Bush administration's policies."

The Department of Defense did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

There are more than 2000 of these pictures, which means the ones we have seen before amount to less than one-tenth of the total.  And that's just the evidence of torture and abuse that was photographically documented.

US war criminals are still on the loose.

-- Bernie Sanders, who will make a "campaign" appearance in Austin on the last day of March, will offer to amend the Republican budget, calling for an income tax surcharge on the wealthiest among us -- millionaires -- in order to finance increases in defense spending and the next military aggression (read: Iran).

The “war tax” will be one of the first Sanders will introduce during the vote-a-rama next week. During the back-to-back votes, senators are allowed to submit an unlimited amount of amendments.

“The Republicans took us into protracted wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — and ran up our national debt by trillions because they chose not to pay for those wars. Instead, they put the cost of those wars on our national credit card,” Sanders said in a statement Friday.

[...]

“Wars are enormously expensive, not only in terms of human life and suffering, but in terms of the budget. If the Republicans want another war in the Mideast, they are going to have to tell the American people how much it will cost them and how it will be paid for,” he said. 

You want a war, Louie?  Your credit is declined.  Cash in advance.

-- A Wisconsin federal judge has overturned the law there that requires doctors performing abortions to have hospital admitting privileges.  You may recall that in Texas, it's law now and remains so by virtue of the 5th Circuit.  So we have another American freedom -- that of a woman's right to choose whether or not she will give birth -- on its way, eventually, to the Supreme Court.

AMERICA FUCK YEAH! doesn't just apply to guns, after all.

The other Garcia running for mayor

Chuy, in Chicago.  From the evening of February 24th, after he made the runoff against the incumbent, Rahm Emanuel.

We the people have spoken. Not the people with the money and the power and the connections. Not the giant corporations.

The big-money special interests. The hedge funds...who poured tens of millions of dollars into the mayor's campaign. They've had their say for too long. But today, the rest of us had something to say.

We've got six weeks of hard work ahead of us -- and believe me, these big-money interests are going to throw everything they got at us. They run this town and they're not gonna give up easy. But we're gonna fight...we're gonna win.

When Garcia's campaign manager was asked how his candidate could be outspent 12-1 and still force a runoff, he replied, "Money can't buy you love."

During his first term as Chicago mayor, Emanuel privatized some public schools and closed others, went hammer-and-tong after teachers, appointed his cronies to boards and commissions, and essentially declared war on all things -- people and ideas -- progressive.  This is his history: while he was chief of staff in Obama's White House, Emanuel was credited ("discredited" is a better word, IMO) with killing the public option for healthcare reform.

As a city alderman, Jesus "Chuy" Garcia fought so hard against Chicago's machine politics that then-Mayor Richard M. Daley made kicking him off the city council a top political priority. The same sort of thing -- making enemies of powerful interests -- happened when he served in Springfield, IL as a state senator.  As a Cook County commissioner, he helped balance their mess of a budget while lowering taxes.  He has aligned himself with those who hold to account the 1% and the corporations who buy our politicians and muck up our political system.

On both sides of the aisle.

Night before last, on St. Paddy's, the two men had a debate.  This account makes it seem as if the moderator -- a fixture in Chicago journalism -- was the winner.

Without any doubt, the winner of the first one-on-one debate between Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his challenger, Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, was its oh-no-you-don’t moderator, Carol Marin. Setting aside the near-historic sight of a 66-year-old woman on television, the TV and print news veteran won the night by brooking a minimum of blah-blah, and jumping in front of various filibusters: “Let’s go back four years,’’ Emanuel began, when asked how to close the Chicago Public Schools’ billion-dollar deficit. “No, let’s not,’’ Marin said crisply.

As she isn’t on the ballot, though, in the city’s April 7 mayoral runoff, voters must choose between an insurgent who’s been cast as such a sweet guy he might have a marshmallow center, and a famously profane incumbent who has lost support over crime, school closings, and revenue-producing red-light traffic cameras.

Sounds like it was great fun.  It's still steeply uphill for the challenger, though.

The fact that there even is a runoff has humbled Emanuel and embarrassed the president he served as chief of staff in their own town. It has excited those Chicagoans who’d love to see the city elect its first Hispanic mayor, and secretly pleased even some who see Garcia’s run as quixotic, but aren’t what you’d call heartbroken to watch their sometimes abrasive mayor have to work for his reelection against an opponent with a fraction of the funds and name recognition.

A recent Chicago Tribune poll showed Emanuel leading his challenger, 51 to 37, but Garcia supporters are hoping that turnout by those too turned-off to come out for the original vote on Feb. 24, when few thought Garcia had a chance, will swing the runoff his way. If yard signs are any indication, Garcia will do well in the president’s old neighborhood, Hyde Park.

Go finish up; it's well-written.

There are so many parallels to Houston's Garcia, and so many polar opposites between the two that it's hard to measure them with modern technology.  One example: Chuy is running against those terrible red-light cameras -- a Republican peeve a few years ago in H-Town, you will recall -- the removal of which would blow an even bigger hole in Chicago's budget than they already have.

Let's establish that Rahmbo, an internationally renowned asshole, is likely to return to office.  A vote for Emanuel would represent not just a vote for crony capitalistic scorched-earth politicos, but a vote for continuing and extending the CIA-modeled police state tactics that have been revealed in the Windy City, and on display in too many other municipal police departments around the country.

Update: Another Garcia from Chicago, cartoonist Eric J.

A narrow loss for Emanuel would represent a nascent progressive revolution of sorts.  And the media would rush to project ramifications large and small for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

So let's at least hope that our mayoral tilt is as fun as the one they're having in That Toddlin' Town.  And finally, let's watch closely to see if the Bayou City's Garcia can be as successful -- so far -- as Chicago's.  Maybe even return to his Democratic roots a little (if he can't actually be progressive, in other words) for the sake of politics and elections.  Wouldn't that be something to see.

An open letter to, and some questions for, Adrian Garcia

Congratulations on your (alleged) decision to run for mayor of Houston.  And hey, sorry about posting that false start a month ago.  Once you do declare, I know that many will cheer, and some will complain; I will do neither.  I have not made up my mind who I might vote for and support, but I am fairly certain today that it will not be you in the general election this fall.  No hard feelings, best of luck in your bid for office.

As a public service to inform the 10-15% of Houston voters who will be participating in November's municipal elections, I respectfully request your response to the following questions.  You may comment here or e-mail me; I would ask that your responses be in writing and on the record.  At this time it is unnecessary for you or one of your advisers to call me, as I have a hearing impediment that has rendered telephone call conversations all but worthless.  (That hopefully changes in the near future, but for the present time I'm in read-only mode.)

You may respond on your own timetable, as I understand and appreciate the fact that you must resign your position as Sheriff of Harris County once you officially announce your mayoral campaign, and that conversations about that might force your resignation sooner than you would wish.  The ramifications of giving up your office to seek another is its own story, which isn't necessary to discuss at this time.  But speaking of that...

-- May I ask how you will support your family while you run for mayor?  Giving up your day job isn't so difficult for your extravagantly wealthy competitors for mayor; those that aren't wildly rich can continue with their law firms or engineering firms or brokerage firms in a reduced capacity, and little or no reduced compensation.

That's not the case with you, unless there's something I don't know.  As far as I can tell, you're a working Joe much like 99% of Houston's residents.  As an HPD beat cop, city councilman, and now the county's top law enforcement officer -- jobs that pay well, but don't exactly put you on Easy Street -- it looks like you've been making ends meet, maybe a little better.  But can you afford not having a paycheck for six or seven months?  Also regarding money, you're not going into the contest with a large campaign warchest, and absolutely not in comparison to others already hosting lavish fundraisers and the like.  So by all appearances you'll be running a fairly populist campaign, at least as compared to half a dozen other mayoral hopefuls.  That's something I admire and have respect for, if you know anything about what I have written here over the past decade.

If you're not going to be "funemployed" while you bid for chief at City Hall, do you have a job lined up?  Is someone going to hire you -- I'll speculate "security consultant" at 10-12K monthly -- that expects some return on their investment if you get elected mayor?  And perhaps most importantly: do you think it's appropriate for you to disclose to the voters any or all of these details?

-- May I ask about your political affiliation?  I realize you have been elected as a Democrat a couple of times now, and am also quite familiar with the non-partisan nature of Houston municipal elections and the perils of "jungle" elections.  Your previous statements -- the ones where you refer to yourself as 'getting more conservative as you have gotten older' -- coupled with your support of the now-defunct Secure Communities program (much more of a Republican priority than a Democratic one) would suggest that if you still consider yourself a Democrat, you appear to be a very, very conservative one, sort of in the mold of one of your loudest supporters and Rick Perry's attorney of record, Tony Buzbee.  By the way: is Buzbee still a Democrat or has he become a Republican?  Or, as with so many other Houston One-Percenters... does he work and play on both sides of the street?

-- What is your plan associated with the expectation that Latinos will need to turn out in historic numbers to elect you, as you said a few months ago?  I realize it's the goal, and every effort will be expended to do that, but why do you think you'll be able to re-write the record books in this regard?  What makes you more special than, say, Tony Sanchez in 2002, or Maria Luisa Alvarado in 2006, or Linda Chavez-Thompson in 2010, or Leticia Van de Putte in 2014?  Lots of Democratic hopes and dreams have been dashed on the shoals of 'increased Latino voter turnout' for many years now.  Even Ruy Teixeira, who co-authored that 2004 book that said it was all but inevitable -- and then offered another promising tea leaf again in 2013, while diversifying his "diversity" message to economic issues -- was, like all Democrats, forced to eat a large serving of crow while sitting in the wreckage of 2014.

Every Democrat in Texas, and maybe the nation, would like to know what the secret is for increasing Latino turnout beyond having a Latino surname.  (And nobody wants to hire Marc Campos just to learn if he is full of shit about knowing the secret, or not.)

So precisely what -- or as close to 'precise' as you are comfortable revealing -- are you planning to do in order to make history?

I'm sure I'll have more questions once you declare, but one thing I won't do much of is criticize your decision to hand the sheriff's office back to a Republican, or point out some of the office's shortcomings or deficiencies under your administration.  There will be plenty of others who will choose to do that.  I'll also not harp on your lack of college degree.  I have blogged in the recent past that was a deal-breaker for me, just as it would be if I were a Republican considering a vote for Scott Walker.  But I'm going to mute that criticism, even though there are many reasons why conservatives hate college and Democrats value education, as the Texas Lege is demonstrating once again.

In the meantime, I will wait patiently for your responses, to me personally or to the Houston electorate generally.  Again, good luck to you with your campaign.