A policy address held by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday aimed at publicizing the tasks it undertook before and after the Greater Kao-hsiung gas pipeline blasts on July 31 and Aug. 1 backfired as officials failed to provide a credible timetable for the actions taken before the blasts, prompting fresh concerns over the central government’s capabilities during emergencies.
EPA Bureau of Environmental Inspection Director-General Hsiao Chin-lang (蕭清郎) told a press conference that the bureau helped sample leaked gases, including volatile organic compounds and hydrocarbons, after receiving reports of a possible gas leak, while the southern toxic substance emergency response team was in charge of analyzing the sampled gases.
Lu Chia-hui (盧家惠), deputy section head at the EPA’s Department of Environmental Sanitation and Toxic Substances, said the bureau sampled the leaked gases with a photoionization detector and flame ionization detector.
The emergency response team used a technique called Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to obtain an infrared spectrum showing the intensity of wavelengths projected by the leaked gases so as to identify them.
However, Lu said the explosions had taken place before the department could analyze the sampled gas, adding that no further preventive measures were taken before the blasts because the department’s standard operating procedure requires tests of volatile gas samples before it takes any further action.
She said that the response team were only “following orders” given by a commander controlling the situation on the scene.
Lu said the emergency response team had detected abnormally high levels of volatile organic compounds and hydrocarbons at about 9:50pm on July 31, but failed to give an account on what follow-up actions were taken during the interval between the detection and the blasts, which happened at 11:59pm that day.
She also declined to answer questions regarding how long an analysis of gases takes, but said that it was not until 6:55am the next morning that the department confirmed the gas that caused the explosions was propene, after members of the team removed manhole covers and took samples from pipeline tunnels under the roads.
The department’s account contradicted that of the Greater Kaohsiung Government, which issued a press release on Aug. 2 saying that the local government’s Environmental Bureau at 11:20pm had confirmed that the gas was propene.
When asked whether the bureau’s emergency response procedure could be expedited to prevent a similar situation from arising, Hsiao said the bureau would look into boosting its efficiency while responding to such emergencies.
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