Public Hazards Oil and Gas Tank Explosions: Case study of three explosions and how government and the community can work together to increase hazard awareness

Recent explosions at oil and gas storage sites resulting in fatalities and injuries to members of the public have drawn attention to the inadequacy of security requirements at the local, state and national level that are intended to prevent catastrophic accidents. Over the past three decades, the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) found 26 similar oil and gas tank explosions that resulted in 44 fatalities and 26 injuries to members of the public under the age of 25 who socialized at these unmanned, unfenced and often isolated tank sites that are ubiquitous in oil and gas producing states in the United States. The CSB investigation into three similar tank explosions found regulatory security exemptions from the Environmental Protection Agency and insufficient industry standards failed to prevent these explosions. More importantly, this CSB study found that the crude oil, distillate and gasoline contents housed inside these tanks are not considered hazardous enough to create a flammable atmosphere under certain regulations intended to protect the public, despite the preponderance of explosions. This issue is even more relevant with the increase in natural gas drilling activities throughout the United States. The CSB conducted an investigative study of these oil and gas tank explosions at three sites throughout the United States—Carnes, Mississippi, Weleetka, Oklahoma and New London, Texas and worked with community members in Carnes, Mississippi to increase awareness of this ubiquitous hazard.