By Chad Pinkerton
A number of lawyers and community organizers, including the attorney behind a recent TPC settlement, are mobilizing Port Arthur residents after the plant explosion at Valero on March 23.
Following a 6:25 p.m. explosion and fire at the Valero oil refinery at 1801 S Gulfway Dr., community organizers and personal injury attorneys have been demonstrating a diversity of tactics to inform and represent fenceline residents.
Brent Coon and Associates was the first to spring into a suit late in the evening of the explosion to preserve any evidence, documents or data related to the refinery’s hydrocracker unit and control room. He reached a Temporary Restraining Order settlement that will allow the plaintiff’s council roughly 14 days to conduct their investigation.
“We filed now because every hour matters. Evidence disappears. Data gets overwritten. Records get ‘lost,’” Coon said in a statement. “We have seen it before, and we are not going to let it happen again.”
Brent Coon and Associates is engaging in a class action petition with Judge Baylor Wortham’s Court to represent all residents, businesses and property owners in Jefferson and Orange Counties whose property was damaged, whose persons were injured, or whose use and enjoyment of their homes and businesses was disrupted by the explosion, fire and resulting hazardous chemical releases.
Simultaneously, Pinkerton Law Firm Attorney Chad Pinkerton said his firm is pursuing a mass tort approach rather than seeking a court’s certification March 27 during a meeting that brought over 200 to New Hope Baptist Church in Port Arthur.
“A mass tort is different than a class action,” Pinkerton said at the meeting. “Aisha here has her own claim in a mass tort, her recovery is based on what happened to her. Tonya’s case is different than Aisha. She recovers based on what happened to her. Monica’s claim is different from Tonya’s or Aisha’s.”
“In a mass tort, what we do is handle the liability part of it as a group — how was the refinery wrong, and how did they cause this to happen?” Pinkerton added. “We build that case for everybody, but your individual case is different and I negotiate your case and resolve your case based on your harm.”
Community leaders who are putting together meetings independently and in collaboration with legal counsel include Community In-Power and Development Association’s Hilton Kelley and The Port Arthur Community Action Network’s John Beard Jr.
PACAN has finalized its meeting, which will reportedly count Coon in attendance, at 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Hampton Inn & Suites located at 7660 Memorial Blvd. Community In-Power and Development Association is planning a community meeting on April 15, but the Enterprise reached out to Kelley and was unable to receive a confirmation or details of that date at time of publication.
A spokesperson from Valero told the Enterprise Tuesday that the shelter-in-place order issued by Jefferson County Sheriff Zena Stephens was precautionary and that three independent air monitoring reports showed no need for concern.
“The unit fire at Valero’s Port Arthur, Texas, refinery is essentially out,” the Tuesday statement read. “All personnel are accounted for, and there are no recordable injuries. Last night, local authorities issued a precautionary shelter-in-place order and a partial road closure until air monitoring confirmed there was no threat to air quality. This has been lifted. Air monitoring by Valero, local Port Arthur fire department and TCEQ shows no concerns. The cause of the fire is under investigation. We appreciate the support and continued coordination with the various authorities. As always, the safety of our workers and the community remains our priority.”
Despite this, fenceline residents like Etta Hebert, who live just off Gulfway Drive and in the shadow of Valero, Motiva and German Pellets, said they’ve been struggling to breathe, get timely medical transportation accommodations and are experiencing adverse health complications.
“I was sitting right here when my house shook. Why they can’t do something about these refineries?” Hebert said Friday after leaving New Hope Baptist. “My granddaughter came over and her stomach started hurting so bad it brought her to tears. I really think the city can do better, but they choose not to. It’s a shame, and that’s why I put my funeral clothes on because half the people that were over there — check on them in three years. I bet you they’re going to be dead. Besides two members of my family, all the recent passings were from cancer. It’s not fair.”
Darlene Zeno-Williams and her daughter Kamaria Clabon said they thought someone had hit their house Monday evening. They strained to gather their bearings while worrying about family members stuck in Sabine Pass and unable to return home for over 16 hours.
“My back is killing me, and the pain started under my shoulder blades before coming around to my chest,” Zeno-Williams said while describing her fall. “I was sitting up, but when it hit I slid to the floor. She hurt hers trying to help me up.”
Clabon said that her youngest son couldn’t return home from his job until 7:15 a.m. after going into work at 2 p.m. the previous afternoon.
“They shut them down because they had to stop the traffic and didn’t want them going over the ISTC bridge,” Clabon said. “Even though I’m here with my mom, as a mom, I’m thinking about my child. He’s over there!”
Zeno-Williams and Clabon emphasized their desire for a transparent investigation into the air quality reports methodology. They want all monitoring reports to be presented alongside each other by elected officials to ensure a correlation of findings.
An initial emissions event report filed by Valero with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality showed thousands of pounds of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and other volatile organic compounds were released in the accident.
The best law firm in NYC! They explain everything to you and they are very generous and helpful. The lawyers are excellent and very respectful. I highly recommend the Avvocato law firm.
Comments are closed.