OSHA Fines Terminal Operator $82,000 for Million-Gallon Acid Spill

Small subcontractor handed an additional $3 million fine

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a combined $3.5 million in fines to the companies responsible for a sulfuric acid spill on the Houston Ship Channel last year.

The spill occurred at the BWC Jacinto site in Channelview, one of 22 facilities that privately-held BWC Terminals operates around the U.S. The agency alleged that an unsafe chemical mixture caused the spill, some of which entered the shipping channel. "OSHA found that despite safety warnings, BWC Terminals mixed fresh and spent sulfuric acid, triggering a tank overpressure that ruptured a supply line releasing one million gallons of sulfuric acid resulting in multiple employee injuries," the agency alleged in a statement.

For the cleanup, BWC hired Coastal Environmental Solutions and its subcontractor One Way Environmental Services, which supplied the labor for the post-casualty remediation effort. The overwhelming bulk of the fine ($3 million) was levied on One Way Environmental, a small local firm.

The subcontractor has a limited public presence. Its mailing address in the OSHA complaint appears to be an auto repair shop in South Park, a low-income, majority-minority neighborhood on the south side of Houston.

One Way's ability to pay a multimillion-dollar fine is unclear. Its financial standing has been questioned by some of its workers, who told local Click2Houston in February that some of their handwritten paychecks bounced and that they had not been paid on time.

A group of One Way laborers gathered outside the house of the firm's owner February 4 to complain, causing enough of a disturbance that the police were called. The owner told the news outlet that a banking issue was responsible for the nonpayment of wages, with some workers claiming unpaid amounts of about $4,000 per person. The wages were paid in several days' time.

OSHA alleges that during the process of the acid cleanup, One Way committed 18 willful, egregious violations of safety regulations, plus five serious violations. The agency claims that One Way didn't provide its laborers with the right training, safety measures or respirator fit tests before sending them to clean up a sulfuric acid spill.

BWC and Coastal received other penalties. OSHA alleges that BWC exposed its workers to chemical burns, did not provide hazmat training, and had deficiencies related to respirator use. The agency proposed a fine of about $82,000 as a penalty for the terminal operator's million-gallon release.