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Explosion at west Texas oil refinery
shuts down major interstate; 5 people injured

The Associated Press

Published: February 19, 2008

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BIG
SPRING, Texas: A thunderous explosion rocked an oil refinery
Monday, injuring five people and shaking buildings miles away.

One employee was hospitalized for burns, while three contractors were treated
and released, said Blake Lewis, a spokesman for refinery owner Alon USA.

A fifth person was injured when her car was struck by debris on Interstate
20, Big Spring Mayor Russ McEwen told the Odessa American. She was treated and
released from a hospital.

Fires that lingered after the blast were extinguished late Monday afternoon,
Lewis said. The next step will entail getting into the site to determine what
happened and how to make repairs.

Lewis said all workers were accounted for about an hour after the
explosion.

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A skeleton crew of just 40 people were there Monday because of the Presidents
Day holiday, Alon USA Vice President David Foster told the newspaper. There are
typically about four times as many people on duty at the time of the explosion,
he said.

Foster said he expected the refinery to be offline for weeks.

The blast sent black smoke billowing into the sky, and forced the closure of
schools and an interstate.

"It was extremely scary. You shook you were so scared," said Laura McEwen,
the mayor's wife, who lives about two miles from the refinery. "Our walls shook.
It jolted your bed. It was like an earthquake."

John Moseley, managing editor of the Big Spring Herald whose downtown office
is also about two miles from the refinery, said, "I thought it would knock the
walls down."

Two elementary schools were evacuated, then classes were canceled at all nine
campuses in the Big Spring school district, assistant superintendent Carie
Dunnam said.

Classes also were canceled at Howard College, according to the two-year
junior college's Web site.

The explosion forced open the doors of the school district's administration
building about four miles from the plant, Dunnam said.

Interstate 20 was shut down near the plant until about 6:30 p.m., the
Department of Public Safety said.

The 78-year-old refinery employs about 170 people and has the capacity to put
out about 70,000 barrels a day.

Big Spring is about halfway between El Paso and Dallas, where Alon is
based.

The blast followed one the night before at an iron pipe factory in Utah that
injured 11 workers, one critically.

The explosion occurred on the casting floor Sunday night after a frozen pipe
leaked water onto calcium carbide, said John Balian, general manager at Pacific
States Cast Iron Pipe Co.

The explosion in Springville was loud enough to be heard at the Utah County
jail, more than 4 miles from the plant, sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon said.

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