Green groups call for probe of Citgo fire pollution

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Two environmental groups called on Thursday for a wider investigation of pollution released by a July 19 fire at Citgo Petroleum Corp's Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery.

The Sierra Club and Citizens for Environmental Justice said hydrogen fluoride spread from the fire in an alkylation unit at the refinery to neighborhoods around the plant.

"There's no magic wall around the Citgo refinery," said Neil Carman, clean air program director for the Sierra Club Lone Star chapter.

Residents in neighborhoods near the refinery told group representatives that they had throat and eye irritation while the fire burned for two days.

After the groups' news conference, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality confirmed hydrogen fluoride was detected in the air within the refinery.

"A hydrogen fluoride air concentration of approximately 5 parts per million was reported by Citgo at 12:17 p.m. (CDT) on July 19, at the fence line facing an industrial, non-residential area," according to a statement issued by the commission.

"The TCEQ currently has no data which indicate the public was exposed to such a level nor did the TCEQ receive any citizen complaints throughout the duration of the event," the commission said.

However, the TCEQ said a one-hour exposure to hydrogen fluoride at 5 ppm of hydrogen fluoride would cause respiratory tract irritation.

Hydrogen fluoride is used in the type of alkylation unit Citgo operates at the Corpus Christi refinery and can cause cause burns as well as heart, lung and bone damage in humans.

A Citgo representative was not immediately available to discuss the complaint.

A spokesman for the regional office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Dallas, said continuous air monitoring since July 20 has not detected hydrogen fluoride in the air around the refinery.

The TCEQ along with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and U.S. Chemical Safety Board are investigating the fire to determine the cause and responsibility for the blaze.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba; editing by Carol Bishopric)