EAST WILCO PUBLIC SAFETY
Growing high-tech industry has first responders getting ready for potential mishaps
To describe the $17 billion, 6-millionsquare- foot Samsung Austin Semiconductor plant as a looming presence – let alone an economic boon – in Taylor is to employ understatement.
Yet increasingly, it’s the less-visible specter of chemicals used in the manufacture of its technologies that is of growing focus.
As the plant readies for full operational status by 2026, residents have begun voicing concerns over the chemical array used in semiconductor manufacturing – acids, bases and specialty chemicals such as silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide and indium phosphide among them.
Samsung isn’t the sole target of concern. There is a growing list of suppliers setting up shop in Taylor and the area, eager to supply the South Korean conglomerate with its needed chemicals. One such example is semiconductor chemical manufacturing company Soulbrain, also of South Korea, which recently secured permission to build a $575 million plant in Taylor.
SOUNDING THE ALARM
At a recent meeting of the Williamson County Commissioners Court, retired Navy Capt. Bill Kelberlau of Georgetown warned of potential dangers. He focused his comments on the phosphoric acid to be produced at the Soulbrain plant.
“This is a very dangerous chemical,” he said. “Low levels can irritate the eyes and respiratory tracts; high levels can cause death or permanent injury. These chemicals are very dangerous and can cause permanent scarring tissue in lungs.”
He questioned the plants’ location in Williamson County, where many residents have historically settled to get away from the hustle and bustle of big city life for more tranquil environs.
“Plants like this need to be out in the open, away from high populations,” Kelberlau said.
Attempting to allay concerns, Precinct 1 Commissioner Terry Cook said first responders are gearing up for any challenges.
“Williamson County is being hit with manufacturing sites, which could represent health and safety issues,” she said about brisk development spurred by the Samsung plant. “The respective fire departments are stepping up. We’re getting there; we’ll be prepared by the time they’re manufacturing.”
HAZMAT TEAMS
In the unthinkable event of a chemical leak, how prepared is Williamson County?
Even ahead of plants’ fully operational status, have precautionary steps been taken in advance?
At the very least, hazardous-materials crews are expected to be in place in any jurisdiction. County spokeswoman Yvonne Ramirez offered assurances of a regional presence.
“Wilco Emergency Services does have offices that are part of the hazmat team or support the team,” she said. “Specifically, the fire marshal and special operations and the Office of Emergency Management.”
She pointed to the Capital Area Council of Governments – an advocate, planner and coordinator for regional issues in the 10-county area as an example of preparedness. The CAPCOG region has three hazmat teams collectively covering the 10-county area, she said.
“Those teams come from Williamson County, city of Austin and Hays County,” she said. “All provide mutual aid to the region as required. The Williamson and Hays County Teams are (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Type 2 teams, and Austin has a Type 1 (most capable). Which means they are all fully equipped hazmat teams.”
Type 1 and Type 2 teams are essentially the same, she noted.
“But being a Type 1 requires a special analysis machine that is maintained by Austin (Fire Department) for the region. All other hazmat capabilities across the three teams are essentially the same otherwise,” she said.
In covering Williamson County, the assigned teams comprise fire departments from Taylor, Georgetown, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander and Hutto Fire Rescue, Ramirez said. “This gives us plenty of coverage across Williamson County geographically. Of course, we can dispatch all components of the team into a single response, if needed.”
The county provides the fire departments with hazmat equipment, vehicles and trailers and maintenance support to the fire departments/(emergency services districts). In turn, the fire departments provide the personnel needed for potential incidents. “This capability is available 24/7,” she added.
MANDATED BY LAW
Hazmat-preparedness oversight mandated by law also is in place in the form of a Local Emergency Planning Committee, the spokeswoman added. The LEPC focuses on hazmat planning and responses, among other preparedness and response issues, she said.
“This LEPC is comprised of all stakeholders across the county with a hand in, or may be affected by, a hazmat incident,” Ramirez said. Those include hospitals, commercial businesses, fire, emergency medical services, law enforcement, independent school districts, emergency managers, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Texas Department of Transportation, the county and health districts.
She noted the role of ESDs within the county in terms of preparedness. ESDs are political subdivisions created under the Texas Health and Safety Code that support or provide local emergency services.
“The county and jurisdictional ESDs within the county continually collaborate to improve capability through hazard assessment, preparedness, response, mitigation and recovery planning efforts,” she said. “In fact, we are currently reviewing and updating our interlocal agreements, (standard operating procedures) and plans related to hazmat to meet future needs.”
SAMSUNG’S ROLE
Ramirez pointed to Samsung’s consistent communication with the county as it relates to preparedness.
“We are also working with Samsung to plan future joint exercises that increase our response capabilities and ensure we are highly prepared for their specific risks,” she said. “Site visits have occurred as has routine training.”
Yet she acknowledged a lack of familiarity with Samsung’s own preparedness arsenal.
“We cannot speak for any private companies, like Samsung, or to their mitigation measures on site,” she added. “However, Williamson County is always prepared to help our private companies, as well as to respond to any incidents that occur during the transportation of materials to and from any commercial site within the county. In addition, our regional partners are prepared to assist us on any event that may exceed our internal resources, which are already robust.”
For its part, Samsung boasts of its health and safety standards across its semiconductor plants. On its website, the company details what it calls innovative processes and controls that are now standard in the industry while continually seeking further enhancements.
“For instance, in addition to being the first to develop and implement realtime, 24/7 chemical monitoring in 2007, we operate highly effective filtration and ventilation systems at all times in our semiconductor fabrication facilities, and these systems are capable of eliminating any potentially dangerous chemicals in real time,” officials wrote on the corporate website. “Therefore, the cleanliness of the air within our facilities is equivalent to or better than what we breathe in our general surroundings.”
RESIDENT AWARENESS
As far as precautions go, components related to community awareness also must be in place, said Adrian Shelley, director of the Texas office of the consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen. Formerly executive director of Air Alliance Houston, Shelley said notifications to residents about chemical dangers in their midst should be part of the equation.
“Ahead of time as well,” he said, likening awareness outreach to preparedness efforts. “It’s important for the public to know when there are dangerous facilities or facilities that house dangerous chemicals.”
Why? “For their own peace of mind to make their own decisions, so they can understand what they live around,” Shelley said. “It’s not enough that there’s a plan once an emergency occurs, but that the community is aware ahead of time of these facilities.”
Given the massive press coverage in 2021 when Samsung revealed plans to build its semiconductor manufacturing plant in Taylor – a “fab” (fabrication) in the industry parlance – it’s a safe bet most residents already are aware of its presence.
Those implausibly missing the news are made aware of the plant’s existence given its massive scale – a structure roughly the size of 11 football fields sitting on 1,200 acres – that is twice as large as Samsung’s flagship campus in South Korea, as Forbes reported.
In addition to awareness of its physical presence, nearby residents also should be familiarized with the sounds of various plant sirens used in alerting to fab-related events, Shelley noted.
“People need to know what the sirens are,” he said. “The test blast is going to sound different from the emergency blast. It’s not something that will be obvious to people.”
Without advance familiarity to the various siren sounds, residents may react to events incorrectly, he noted.
“It’s not unusual that the operation of a siren in a community where people are informed can have the opposite effect,” he said. “A siren can go off to shelter in place and people go outside. We know in practice there’s going to be people who will not know the sirens.”
Yet even being aware of chemicals in their midst won’t fully protect residents, Shelley suggested, noting that some of the very chemicals used to respond to plant emergencies could themselves be harmful.
Take per- and polyfluoroalkyl for instance – a group of synthetic chemicals that are used in fire-fighting foams. PFAs also are known as “forever chemicals” as they don’t break down easily in the environment, Shelley said.
“The community needs to understand the implications of their use,” he added. “They (PFAs) need to be used judiciously, and the public needs to be informed of their use.”
He pointed to a real-life example from his old stomping grounds in Houston where the use of PFAs added to a dangerous chemical stew stemming from the Intercontinental Terminals Co. facility fire in Deer Park.
As reported by the Texas Tribune, the fire released plumes of hazardous chemicals into the air and water for days as it spewed toxic materials into the environment – forcing the closure of schools and businesses.
“Those chemicals were traced all the way to Galveston Bay,” Shelley said of the PFAs used to fight the conflagration. “They moved through the ship channel into the bay and were detected some time later.”
The ITC tank farm fire prompted a shelter-in-place order of Deer Park residents, as the Tribune subsequently reported, with investigations later finding the release of elevated levels of potentially cancer-causing and lethal benzyne into the air.
CHEMICAL AWARENESS
Shelley referred to another key provision of the LEPC as an additional mandated community safeguard – providing a list of chemicals in use at plants.
Called material safety data sheets, the list is something of an inventory of chemicals provided to fire departments in advance of an emergency and whether the substances are flammable, toxic to breathe or skin irritants.
“There are examples of failures to this system creating hazards to first responders,” Shelley said, invoking the Arkema chemical plant fire spurred by a power outage as Hurricane Harvey tore a destructive path in 2017.
“First responders were not informed and went straight into the facility and were sickened,” Shelley said of some 27 emergency personnel responding to the incident. “If they had the appropriate sheets and emergency response plan, they would have used respirators. They didn’t know what they were breathing in.”
Given that chilling example, full transparency would seem the order of the day. And there’s the rub: By their own admission, Samsung officials don’t make their chemical stockpiles fully known to the public for proprietary reasons.
In an expansive Q&A portion in the Samsung Newsroom website, officials assure benzyne is not part of their chemical mix.
“Benzyne is an elementary petrochemical that is a component in everyday products, such as plastic, synthesized rubber, gasoline and detergents,” the Samsung site reads. “But studies have found that when exposed to through the air, benzyne may increase the risk of certain illnesses, including cancer. In this regard, benzyne is strictly prohibited within the semiconductor industry and we have never used the chemical in our semiconductor operations.”
The same can’t be said for the rest of the stockpile: “While contents of a number of materials have remained undisclosed and protected as trade secrets, we require that all of our suppliers comply with our strict hazardous materials policy and test every chemical they supply us for compliance.”
OFFICIALS CONFIDENT
Trade secrets notwithstanding, the county seems confident of its safety preparedness even amid the growing influx of chemical plants attaching to their Samsung host.
“The bottom line is Williamson County’s hazmat response is capable and ready for the addition of Samsung and others moving into the county,” Ramirez said. “As with any emergency response capability, we evolve with the changes in growth of industry, transportation corridors and population.”
Some may view the vision of chemical leaks to be cinematic fare of disaster films, dismissing preventive examination as nothing more than alarmist.
Yet a 2022 Government Accountability Office study found there were an average 190 “accidental chemical releases” to the environment per year – roughly one every other day – across a state of more than 11,000 facilities storing large volumes of toxic chemicals from 2010-19, as Frontier Group reported.
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