“It’s bad enough that (Lakes) died, but then to find out it could have been prevented the whole time just makes it worse,” said Sarah Ellis, 29, whose family lives on Meadow Avenue just yards from the Air Products plant.
Repairs are under way to the two lines found to be leaking nitrogen at Air Products, company officials say. Also, Middletown Law Director Les Landen said testing will continue to make certain they have found all sources and resolved any issues affecting oxygen levels.
Tensions have been high at the Ellis home since the accident, not just because of their proximity but because of family connections, Ellis said. Her husband, Bill, works at AK Steel and her children often played with Lakes’ daughters. Though relieved her husband’s employer does not appear at fault, she is concerned what “these undetected leaks” mean about the Air Products plant.
“It makes me worried that something else will happen. Maybe next time it won’t just be a leak. Maybe it will blow up,” Ellis said. “I just wonder why they weren’t taking the time for maintenance.”
Howard Smallwood has lived on Lawn Avenue near both facilities since 1995. During that time he said he could “hear the gas coming out of there (at Air Products)” and has never trusted either plant to maintain safety.
“You never know what is going on over there.”
City: Public safety has been a top priority
Knowing nitrogen was building up to deadly levels just a few yards from the neighborhoods on north Yankee Road has many residents on edge.
The lack of information was alarming, said Joyce Smears, who watched fire truck after fire truck speed past her home on Yankee Road the morning of May 7. And the continued question of what killed 31-year-old Jabin Lakes, a city worker inspecting a manhole just down the road in front of Air Products & Chemicals, did nothing to alleviate her fears.
Now, almost two weeks later, knowing that Air Products had nitrogen lines running near the manhole, she said she can’t understand why the city “checked 500 gases first before they said it was nitrogen.”
What would make her happy is knowing “it’s completely sealed and taken care of and they make sure it never happens again,” Mears said.
Lois Larick said she wasn’t surprised to learn the nitrogen leak was coming from the supply lines that run from Air Products to AK Steel’s Middletown Works plant. But after this latest incident, Larick said she is ready to move out of her Pearl Street rental property. She said living so close to so many factories now is too worrisome.
“We all are concerned. We already get awful smells here,” she said.
It’s not just that someone died because of the leak that bothers Louis Feltner of Pearl Street. He said he is mostly disturbed about the apparent lack of concern for the neighborhood’s safety by the city.
“Someone died and no one really knew what it was or investigated for a week, but yet they will throw a concrete block over it and everything is fine?” he said, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration.
He also noted that Yankee Road by the accident site was not closed to traffic until just this week. “It definitely makes you question your city leaders and how they do their jobs,” he said.
Les Landen, city law director, said the measures Middletown officials have taken during the course of the investigation have always been with public safety in mind.
Yankee Road was closed between Lafayette and Pershing avenues to prevent traffic from interfering with the process of locating the leak, not for public safety regarding the nitrogen, he said.
Tests indicated there was no public health risk of nitrogen in the air outside of the manhole, he said, previously noting that nitrogen is not a poisonous gas and that it dissipates when ventilated.
“The manhole was not a risk to the community unless someone were to stick their head down the manhole, which is why we put a cement block over it,” Landen said.
The roads will remain closed, he said, while crews excavate the nitrogen lines at Air Products to make repairs.
Saying if the condition of the roads are any indication of how Middletown officials regard the residents living off the north side of Yankee, it’s no wonder it took almost two weeks for the city to find the source of the nitrogen leak, said Trudy Grubb, Feltner’s mother.
“It makes me feel very unsafe. I want them to test the lines over in the neighborhoods to make sure they are safe,” said Grubb, who has lived at her home on Pearl Street for 16 years. “I haven’t seen anybody out here at all.”
A week after the incident, May 14, Landen said an AT&T crew found low oxygen levels in an underground conduit near the scene. Since then, the city has been sending out crews regularly to test sewer lines and storm drains in the area, including the neighborhoods north and south of the manhole, to check ambient area levels.
At this point, Landen said they will continue ventilating the manhole and the conduit to keep nitrogen levels down.
Repairs are ongoing to the two lines found to be leaking nitrogen at Air Products, and Landen said they will continue testing until they are sure they have found all sources and resolved any issues affecting oxygen levels.
Throughout this process, Landen said he believes the city has taken all the necessary steps to protect its citizens.
“I believe that the city took the necessary actions to ensure the public safety and to insure there was no risk the public,” he said. “There will be more follow-up to make sure there is not another source we are missing.”
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