Fiery Houston-Area Tank Farm Is One of Scores Dotting Gulf Coast
- Texas storage complex burned, releasing toxic chemicals
- More than 200 tank farms are located mostly along Gulf
A fire at a Houston-area petroleum and chemical storage complex darkened the skyline this week. Thick plumes of black smoke and the release of chemicals led to the shutdown of schools, businesses and roadways. Even though the fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Company’s Deer Park storage facility has now been extinguished, cancer-causing toxins were detected in the air Thursday and residents were told to stay inside.
A tank farm is a collection of containers, usually made from steel, used to store material for refineries, chemical and plastic producers as well as importers and exporters. Texas is home to more than 200 tank farms mostly located along the Gulf Coast with easy access to waterways, Bloomberg data show. Along the about 50-mile Houston Ship Channel, there are crude tanks that have 300 million barrels of capacity, according to the Greater Houston Port Bureau. ITC’s Deer Park terminal has 242 tanks that have capacity to store 13.1 million barrels of products, including petrochemical gases and liquids, fuel oil and bunker oil, according to the company’s website.