The source of foul odors that prompted officials to dismiss St. Croix Central High School early on several recent days remains elusive and the Department of Education is closing the school until Monday, according to Government House.
Classes were dismissed at 1 p.m. Tuesday due to the odor. More than 30 students sought medical attention at the Gov. Juan F. Luis Hospital on Tuesday afternoon, Government House confirmed in a news release. The school has closed several times due to odors since January.
"Despite a week of air quality testing by the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, we have not been able to determine what the odor is and what is its origin," Gov. John deJongh Jr. said in a statement. "We have ruled out that the odor is being caused by work at the Hovensa refinery where personnel have been scrubbing the huge storage tanks for several weeks now."
"We have confirmed that the odor is only being reported from time to time on the campus of Central High School and that there are no reports of this odor being reported from surrounding neighborhoods or businesses. And the odor is not constant; it is intermittent, which makes it even more difficult to pinpoint its origin," he said.
The governor said the situation regrettably became chaotic.
"It is unfortunate that the presence of the odor and the early dismissal escalated into sheer pandemonium, actions that are not necessary in times of emergency but understandable given the unknown," deJongh said.
Some students were transported by ambulance and others were taken by private vehicles to the hospital for treatment of symptoms including nausea, shortness of breath and a burning sensation in the chest. According to Health Commissioner Darice Plaskett and Dr. Kendall Griffith, chief executive officer at JFL, the students responded favorably to oxygen.
DeJongh said Commissioner of Education Donna Frett-Gregory has determined that it is in the best interest of everyone that classes at Central be canceled until Monday. "This will allow the investigatory team to access the campus and begin to narrow down possible sources of the odor," deJongh said, adding that he has directed DPNR Commissioner Alicia Barnes to coordinate an investigation with the V.I. Waste Management Authority, Fire Services, Public Works and the OSHA division of the Department of Labor.
Over the last several days, DPNR has completed air quality testing but without any tangible results, deJongh said. However, DPNR did say that the testing showed no significant pollutants in the air that would represent a health risk, according to the governor.
Mercaptans. Hovensa LLC has a Merox unit that is used to oxidize mercaptans or sweeten (remove organic sulfide constituents) from LPG. Nothing smells worse. If one or more of their tanks contains a high concentration of mercaptans and these tanks are currently being cleaned out, this could lead to the heavy smell. The human nose can pick up this smell at parts per billion. Also, the transfer of mercaptans to the refinery waste-water system (no tank cleaning involved) can also create the smell. Waste water API separators are open air systems. Also, since the smell comes and goes, the refinery may have a thermal expansion scenario going on at one of their process lines or tanks. Thermal expansion in a line, tank, or vessel can cause a PSV (Pressure Safety Valve) to release. The valve will re-seat itself automatically after conditions upstream of the valve fall below the PSV’s set pressure. Hovensa needs to send in a full team of engineers and operators to find the source of the release/odor source. It’s their baby.
Any other tank PSV’s in the area should also be looked into; including the tanks/lines at Diageo. I’m not sure if Geonet had any tanks sitting around idle at the Renaissance Park and if those tanks currently hold contents.
But the investigators have determined that the odor hasn’t been noticed in the surrounding neighborhood, just on campus. A wind-born chemical that is *that* specific seems sort of unlikely, doesn’t it?
Not saying it’s not Hovensa. Just that it’s not clear to me how under those circumstances it could be.
That stinks.