The devastating blasts, occurring 13 hours apart, left three workers injured and necessitated an emergency evacuation of more than 50,000 residents from the surrounding area.
A Texas petrochemical company has pleaded guilty to a violation of the Clean Air Act and agreed to pay more than $30 million in connection with two explosions that injured workers and caused the evacuation of thousands, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday. The explosions at a TPC Group plant in the coastal city of Port Neches the day before Thanksgiving 2019 prompted the evacuation of more than 50,000 people from the area, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Houston. “TPC Group sincerely regrets the damage and disruption caused by the November 2019 incident at our Port Neches facility," the company said via a statement on Tuesday.
The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency have announced the filing of a felony criminal charge and related civil complaint against TPC,