cooling off those chemicals again until conditions relent. one reporter on this call today, matt dempsey, of the hughes chronicle, he standard what seems like a pretty straightforward question in a crisis like this. i mean, given that people have been evacuated from a mile and a half around this plant, given that they said there s no way we can prevent an explosion, that they can t keep these chemicals cold, and it will probably result in a chemical reaction. given that, this reporter asked the arkema ceo, can you tell us what s inside that chemical plant? what are we dealing with here? can you give us that tier two report? which until a few years ago used to be something we could get as a matter of public record. i have the 2015 tier two inventory. are you going to provide the latest inventory to the media?
cold, and it will probably result in a chemical reaction. given that, this reporter asked the arkema ceo, can you tell us what s inside that chemical plant? what are we dealing with here? can you give us that tier two report? which until a few years ago used to be something we could get as a matter of public record. i have the 2015 tier two inventory. are you going to provide the latest inventory to the media? i don t know that we see the need to do that. they re all involved with the peroxides that we re discussing. no, i understand that. there s a lot more detail in the tier two chemical inventories for reporters that could be useful. just to be clear, though, it sounds like you re not willing to release your tier two chemicals to the media? again, we do not see the need
a couple hundred miles southeast of west, texas, is the town of crosby, texas, just outside houston in harris county. it is, of course, one of the many texas towns that has been battered for the last six days now by tropical storm harvey. crosby is where the arkima chemical plant is. it employs about 57 people. it s a small plant. the plant produces organic peroxides for use in plastics. the plant lost power in the storm like everybody did. they planned ahead for that. they had backup generators on site even after central power was lost. unfortunately this weekend, their backup generators also got swamped. they had no power source of any kind since this weekend at that chemical plant. after the backup generators got swamped, they went to plan c. the company moved the chemicals they had on site into refrigerated containers. where the refrigeration was powered by diesel engines.
site even after central power was lost. unfortunately this weekend, their backup generators also got swamped. they had no power source of any kind since this weekend at that chemical plant. after the backup generators got swamped, they went to plan c. the company moved the chemicals they had on site into refrigerated containers. where the refrigeration was powered by diesel engines. but those diesel-powered refrigerated containers, those containers got compromised by the rising water as well. and so now the crisis for little crosby, texas, is not just that it s under chest-deep water, the crisis in crosby, texas, includes the fact that at that plant, where they ve lost the ability to keep the chemicals refrigerated, they re expecting an explosion now. because the chemicals they use there to produce liquid organic peroxides, there is a risk of reaction by the fact that they re no longer being kept cold.
asked for it. after the west fertilizer plant explosion, texas and greg abbott decided they were going to end the tier two reports being provided to the public. that decades-old public right to know. they got rid of that. that was the one policy change prompted by that explosion that killed 15 people and erased part of that town. a couple hundred miles southeast of west, texas, is the town of crosby, texas, just outside houston in harris county. it is, of course, one of the many texas towns that has been battered for the last six days now by tropical storm harvey. crosby is where the arkima chemical plant is. it employs about 57 people. it s a small plant. the plant produces organic peroxides for use in plastics. the plant lost power in the storm like everybody did. they planned ahead for that. they had backup generators on