Ethanol Plant-Minnesota

BENSON, Minn. (AP) - A fatal explosion at an ethanol plant was
apparently touched off when a welder cut into the roof of a storage
tank containing a flammable vapor, a state investigator said
Thursday.
There was no evidence of criminal intent in the blast and fire
Wednesday at the Chippewa Valley Ethanol Plant near Benson. "It's
an industrial accident," said Rick Kleis, the chief fire
investigator for the state fire marshal.
The welder, Robert Olson, was killed. A plant worker, Troy
Leonard, was hospitalized in fair condition Thursday with acid
burns.
The storage tank, which held 40,000 gallons of corn mash, was
thrown about 75 feet and landed on a tanker truck filled with
ethanol, which caused the fire.
Kleis said the plant had checked the 50-foot-tall storage tank
for hazards about 14 to 16 hours before Olson, 20, began working on
it Wednesday morning.
It wasn't immediately clear why the air inside the tanker wasn't
checked closer to the time Olson began working. "Typically it
would be done the day that they do the cutting, not the day
before," Kleis said.
The Minnesota office of the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration was investigating the explosion, spokesman James
Honerman said.
Honerman said the agency had not received any safety complaints
about the Benson plant since 1998, when OSHA cited the facility for
seven serious safety violations, including two for lack of
procedures in areas with flammable liquids. Chippewa Valley was
fined a total of $3,500 for the seven violations, but the penalty
was cut in half under an agreement with OSHA.
The plant manager, Bill Lee, declined to talk about the
investigation. He said the plant, which has 44 employees, was fully
staffed Thursday, but that it would be two or three weeks before it
resumed normal production.
"We're still in shock, there's no other thing to say," Lee
said. "But we're dealing with the practical things we know we have
to do."
A phone number for Olson's employer, Lundin Construction, was
disconnected Thursday.
Kleis said the plant had hired Lundin Construction to modify the
tank so it could be loaded from the top instead of the bottom.

BENSON, Minn. (AP) - An explosion and fire rocked a plant where
corn is turned into ethanol Wednesday, killing one worker and
injuring another man, officials said.
Robert Olson, 20, was working near a storage tank filled with
40,000 gallons of corn mash when it exploded at Chippewa Valley
Ethanol Co., authorities said.
The tank was thrown about 75 feet and landed on a tanker truck
filled with ethanol, causing the fire.
Firefighters from 11 surrounding towns fought the blaze and
pumped water on rail cars to keep them cool, Sheriff Kenneth Hanson
said.
Troy Leonard was taken to a hospital with acid burns, according
to a hospital spokesman. He was reported in fair condition.
Authorities did not know what caused the storage tank to
explode. The blast occurred in the part of the plant where corn is
turned into mash, which is later processed into ethanol.
About 40 people work at the plant, which also produces alcohol
used for vodka and products such as hair spray and mouthwash. Olson
was a contractor with Lundin Construction of Hanley Falls.
Gary Klemm, who works at a nearby plant, said he saw the
explosion demolish the storage tank.
"I was coming down the road and I saw the top blow right off,"
Klemm said.
Benson is about 120 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
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On the Net:
Chippewa Valley Ethanol: http://www.cvec.com/

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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