On Tuesday, October 11th, 2022, our SWC community members rode to City Hall to publicly address and reiterate to Houston City Council members the danger of CenterPoint Energy's 300,000 gallon propane storage facility that had been placed behind our homes.
Propane is a highly flammable gas, and potential leaks and ignition sources can cause an explosion. This puts our community's safety at high risk.
In the months leading up to the October 11th meeting, members of our community spoke with Councilwoman Martha Castex - Tatum and emailed Houston City Council members to highlight the seriousness of the situation and seek help to have the facility removed. In spite of the conversations and meetings held, we were given very few answers and little help from city officials.
During the council meeting, we expressed that we were highly concerned that the City was not doing enough to inform or keep our community safe.
Tatum stated during the meeting that she knew CenterPoint previously committed to a safety plan and safety meeting, however, no safety plan had been communicated with us nor the Houston Independent School District schools within the area. The safety meeting we were promised was not given to us until we presented the issue again during the city council meeting.
VMPT Martha Castex-Tatum and Mayor Sylvester Turner agreed to guarantee a safety meeting between CenterPoint and the community before the issuing a final permit for the facility.
City of Houston Oct 11, 2022 Council Meeting Source: https://houstontx.new.swagit.com/videos/186330?ts=5910
In previous meetings, residents asked Martha how she and the city were unaware of the CenterPoint facility if they had to acquire city permits. The response is recorded below.
The safety meeting took place on Wednesday, December 14th, 2022 from 6 pm-7:30 pm at the Southwest HPD Substation on Nitida St. There were approximately 70-100 community members present at the meeting to hear the details of CenterPoint's safety plan.
Residents and community members arrived with expectation to receive a plan of action and safety plan telling the community what to do in the case of an emergency, and who the CenterPoint and city emergency contacts would be.
CenterPoint Energy Representative, Justin Cotton, provided the following information regarding what to do in the case of an emergency at the facility and who to call:
"In the event that you see something that you feel may be unsafe, it’s never a bad option to call 9-1-1. If you see something that doesn’t look emergent, but does seem out of the ordinary with our facility–and this applies for any natural gas facility or anything like that–we recommend that you call CenterPoint Energy’s customer service line. If you guys are ready I can give you that number now–So like I said, the CenterPoint Energy customer service line, that is 713-659-2111. I’m a give you guys that again– that’s 713-659-2111."
This is was what we were told to do in the case of an emergency with a propane facility holding 300,000 gallons of flammable gas: call 9-1-1 and the CenterPoint customer service line.
In addition, Jason Fabre, CenterPoint Energy's Local Regulatory and Government Relations Director assured community members that CenterPoint had no incidents with facilities like the propane storage site and the safety features installed were sufficient. We were told of safety features of the facility, but still left without an actionable safety plan in a serious emergency.
“So–so, we understand your concerns. We are committed to the safety and safe operation of this site. We’ve taken all of the appropriate precautions. Now, when it comes to that question on– what do I do when?...we want you to take the appropriate action you need to take to keep yourself safe. So we can’t tell you not to start your car, but the fire department, the police department, you could receive notifications in the event of any emergency. We have operated these facilities since the 1950s– safely. They’re in areas–We have had zero incidents from facilities, like this.”
- Response by Jason Fabre, CenterPoint Energy Local Regulatory and Government Relations
Photos by Birdie Kelley. Photos by ABC13.
No representatives from the Houston Fire Department or the Houston Police Department were present at the safety meeting. Tatum told the community that Chief Pena was out of town, and many community members were upset that no representative was sent in his place to discuss the issue of safety and how they would respond to an emergency.
The Associate Director of the TSU Bullard Center for Environmental Justice, Dr. Denae King, recommended that CenterPoint and the city officials create a team and a safety/disaster plan. Tatum agreed to lead the effort on creating a team and a plan.
Having a safety plan already created and in place by CenterPoint and city officials was the purpose of holding the safety meeting that we attended. This safety plan was not in place and had to be recommended again from outside support.
We are still waiting to receive a response and update from Tatum about the progress of the safety plan. We have not received a response since the December meeting.
Ultimately, our community left this meeting with no new information or plan of action from CenterPoint or the City of Houston. CenterPoint representatives called out their customer service phone number to us, gave us no pamphlets of safety information or contacts, and told us to trust their equipment, and if something went wrong, they couldn't tell us what to do and recommended we do what we thought was best.
Comments