NCS000332_Spill Report_20190610

�. HEXION'"
June 10, 2019
Isaiah Reed
Environmental Specialist
NCDEQ
Asheville Regional Office
2090 U.S. 70 Highway
Swannanoa, NC 28778-8211
Hexion Inc.
114 Industrial Blvd
Morganton, NC 28655
hexion.com
Dear Mr. Reed,
As follow-up to our email correspondence regarding the spill of resin that occurred on site on
6/9/19 (case #213648), following are the details of what occurred.
Location of Incident: Hexion Inc. Morganton Site
114 Industrial Blvd.
Morganton, NC 28655
Description of Incident: On 6/9/19, a Shipping Technician walking from the plant building to the
outside bulk shipping office observed resin on the concrete parking lot at the R7 filter building
located at the southeast corner of the building. He immediately called the Control Room on the
radio and the R7 pump was stopped. Upon inspection of the area, the Shift Lead realized that
there was a significant loss of primary containment of resin from the filter housing and contacted
the Site Leader.
After the Site Leader arrived on site, he evaluated the situation and contacted the NC Division of
Emergency Management to report the spill. Case # 213648 was opened. The Site Leader also
called Michael Willis, the LEPC/Emergency Management Director for Burke County.
The Site Leader observed stormwater Outfall 001 and determined via visual inspection that the
spilled material had not been released off -site. Upon arriving to the site, Michael Willis (LEPC)
reviewed the spill with the Site Leader and agreed with the assessment that no spilled material
had left the site property. Preliminary investigation indicated that as much as 19,782 lbs. of resin
was outside of primary containment. After further investigation, it was estimated that between
12,000-14,000 lbs. of the released material was maintained within secondary containment
between (2) sump areas on site.
Hexion contacted Zebra Environmental Services which mobilized a crew to clean up the release.
Zebra utilized vacuum trucks and pressure washers to remove the spilled material from the
sump areas and wash the parking lot area to remove the resin from the asphalt and concrete
surfaces. The crew was on site for approximately 6 hours and removed the waste material and
water for disposal as non -hazardous waste.
An internal investigation identified the root cause as (2) failures in the process:
1- The Chemical Operator running the reactor changed the filters on the filter housing as a
routine task prior to starting the pump. The Chemical Operator did not realize at the time

of the filter change that the gasket on the filter housing lid had fallen out of the lip on the
reactor lid.
2- The Chemical Operator did not return to the pump/filter area to inspect the transfer after
the pump had started, which is standard procedure for any material transfer and would
have minimized the loss of primary containment and prevented any spilled material from
escaping secondary containment.
Both of these factors are under further investigation and will be handled appropriately with
corrective actions.
If there are further questions please let me know.
Best regards,
Jeff McDaniel
Site Leader
Hexion Inc.