Business & Tech

UPDATE: LyondellBasell Official Says 'No Need to Be Concerned' After Weekend Evacuation, Explosion

Company representative says area surrounding chemcial plant is safe, despite black smoke and rumbling emanating from complex.

Grundy County officials and company representatives alike are saying there's no need to fear any cataclysmic aftershock from Sunday's crisis at the LyondellBasell chemical plant.

"The LyondellBasell Morris complex is safely burning product in its flare and residents may see black smoke and hear rumbling," according to a Monday afternoon news release from LyondellBasell spokeswoman DeeAnn Dunaway Thigpen.

"There is no danger or environmental impact to our community and no need to be concerned. The black smoke is caused by a lack of steam that resulted from the loss of electricity Sunday. We are restoring steam to the flare as quickly as possible which will reduce the smoke and rumbling."

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A power failure in the plant outside Morris in unincorporated Grundy County prompted .

Residents returned to their homes hours later despite a small internal explosion about 7 p.m. Sunday.

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"That was handled and the all clear was sounded last night," said Grundy County Emergency Management Agency Director Jim Lutz on Monday afternoon.

Reports of additional explosions overnight Sunday are unfounded, according to both Lutz and the dispatch supervisor from the Grundy County Sheriff's Office.

All police and fire personnel cleared the scene Sunday night, Lutz said, but that doesn't mean the work is over for employees of the LyondellBasell plant at 8805 North Tabler Road.

"They're going to be continuing to be venting for a while until all the components of the plant are working again," Lutz said.


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