Policy Concentrates INDUSTRIAL SAFETY
Severe weather plans inadequate In light of the impact of Tropical Storm Harvey on an Arkema chemical plant and the greater Houston area, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board is urging companies, emergency planners, and regulators to quickly reassess the chemical industry’s preparedness for hurricanes and floods. The board, an independent federal investigator, made the recommendation Nov. 15 as part of an update of its ongoing investigation into the fires that occurred in late August at the Arkema facility in Crosby, Texas. “Harvey shows that companies can’t rely on past experience” when it comes to emergency planning, says CSB investigator Mark Wingard. “More severe weather events are possible, and we need to be thinking about what can happen
Flammable organic peroxides at Arkema’s flooded plant in Crosby, Texas, ignited amid rising floodwaters. and how to prepare for it. Companies need to test past assumptions.” Arkema manufactures and uses organic peroxides, which must be refrigerated for stability, at the Crosby site. The plant lost primary electricity and its generators as it flooded because of Harvey. As its cold-storage warehouses lost power, the company shifted the peroxides to nine refrigerator truck trailers. But soon, three trailers caught fire and eventually Arkema officials deliberately burned the remaining trailers. The company considered neutralizing the peroxides, but it had 158,757 kg held in 15,000 individual containers, making such actions difficult, CSB investigator Wingard says. CSB officials say floods, high winds, and hurricanes are becoming more frequent and industry and regulators must be prepared. CSB will look at the adequacy of assumptions in current emergency preparedness requirements as well as approaches of different U.S. federal agencies and those of other countries as it prepares its report on Arkema, Wingard says. Arkema did emergency planning, CSB Chair Vanessa Allen Sutherland says, “but it wasn’t enough. We need to find out why and share it with other companies.” Sutherland says CSB intends to complete the investigation and issue its report before the next Atlantic hurricane season starts in June 2018 to help companies and emergency responders prepare.—JEFF JOHNSON, special to C&EN
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C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | NOVEMBER 20, 2017
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore., left) makes his opening statement while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) watches during the Senate Finance Committee markup of the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” on Nov. 14.
LEGISLATION
U.S. Senate would keep tuition tax-free But universities oppose endowment tax and other provisions in reform plan The U.S. tax reform package proposed by Senate Republicans would retain many of the tax benefits for undergraduate and graduate students that the GOP-led House of Representatives put on the chopping block. But the Senate measure also includes several key provisions strongly opposed by higher education groups, such as an excise tax on some private colleges with large endowments and the elimination of certain state and local tax deductions. The Senate bill “still places too much of the burden of fixing our outdated tax system on America’s nonprofit universities,” says Mary Sue Coleman, president of the Association of American Universities, which represents 62 institutions. Universities are disappointed that both versions of tax reform legislation would impose a 1.4% tax on investment income at private schools with endowments worth at least $250,000 per fulltime student. The tax would affect up to 70 schools and raise an estimated $2.5 billion over a decade. “Congress seems eager to redirect these funds to the federal government’s coffers, with no clear benefit to America’s hardworking students and their families,” Coleman says. The Senate’s plan would also eliminate the deduction for state and local taxes, which universities argue would put pressure on high-tax states to cut taxes and ultimately discourage state investment in public colleges and universities. However, the Senate would retain several tax breaks for students that the House plans to abolish, such as an exemption that allows graduate students to avoid paying taxes on the tuition waivers they receive when they work as research or teaching assistants. In another departure from the House’s legislation, the Senate would keep the tax credit for payment of student-loan interest. On the business side, both plans would slash the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%. But the Senate bill would delay the rate cut to 2019, while the House would make it effective in 2018. Republicans aim to overhaul the U.S. code by the end of the year. If the House and Senate pass separate bills, lawmakers will have to reconcile the differences.—GLENN HESS, special to C&EN
C R E D I T: A D R E ES LAT IF/R E UT E RS /N EWS CO M ( PL A N T ) ; BI LL CL A R K /CQ RO L L CA L L / N EWSCO M (P EO P L E )
CSB aims to provide lessons from Arkema flooding
