The Worlds Largest Inland Oil Refinery Explodes...And I Live Only 3 Miles From It

reply to post by dteaff02


Welcome to ATS!

Any chance this could be due to sabotage?



reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Good to hear you're all okay and out of harm's way, let's hope there aren't any more casualties.

How's your dogs?

I love casa blanca. best fajita's in town. i know the owners and family.

Here are some pics:




This picture is right next to my house (I live about 300 yds towards the smoke, if you measure from the bleachers. I can hear the football games from my house).




This is the "old KMart". The parking lot is full of school busses right now.




This is from the interstate, which runs about another 300 yds from my house:

reply to post by goosdawg


They are here with me. I ran back home to get them and some other belongings. Wife works the night shift, so she had to get bedstuff, you know.

It isn't sabotage, unless we are being lied too. It is more an issue of it was just time for an accident. Its been almost 30 years since the last one.

I hate the fossil fuel dependance we have.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Thanks for the updates.

Awesome pics!

That must have been one hell of a boom.

A friend of mine reported that a body landed on the interstate in front of him, smoldering.
Quoted from BigTexan

Have you anymore information about the above?

Has this become a fact yet?

Originally posted by dteaff02
yeah, im hearing only 4 injuries.

Like mentioned above, 170 people doesnt even come close to showing how many people are out on the grounds daily. Many contractors are out there.
Im about to go eat lunch with a buddy of mine who works out there so im gonna try to figure some stuff out. Casa blanca here i come. Im sure you know what im talking about Texan.

Ask your friend about what may have caused it, was it fault of a process operator? Or could it be that they didn't clean vessel well enough and started welding in it, looks like one of the OSHA guys didnt' do their job well. I will be working on one of these oil platforms this summer.
Probably all the experienced operators gave the responsability to one of the interns. lol


[edit on 18-2-2008 by Odessit]

[edit on 18-2-2008 by Odessit]

For what its worth- fine job of reporting bigfatfurrytexan.

You're reporting actual news as it happens and providing original images and everything. Nice job! This is the sort of thing that keeps me coming here, even though I still have to slog through the ridiculous "Im a grey alien!!!" posts.

With all of the talk about "user generated content" here on ats, I would hope that the 3 amigos take notice and do something nice for you. Talk them into a gift certificate to that Casa Blanca restaurant

Another cheers on some quality first hand reporting.

The body landing on the interstate has not been confirmed. I can confirm that cars were blown over on their sides, however.

The local hospital was already full, due to influenza type B (Texas reports double the regional average incidence, at 8.5% currently). No matter, our local hospital, Scenic Mountain Medical Center, is referred to by locals as "Tragic Mountain Medical Center". I drive 30 miles to a po-dunk town ER to get better care.

There was a chopper flying directly over the site a few minutes ago (had to go to Wal Mart...flat tire). Not sure what that was about. If i find out i will let you konw.

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan




and the video:

www.cnn.com...

going to go home to check on the dogs...be back in a bit.

I was just looking at the above picture. That star shaped thingy is a local mechanical/air conditioning place. It is right across the street from Neighbors convenience store. This is the exact same thing i saw when i was able to get my clothes on and go outside. The loud roar of those flames (they are at least 10 stories tall) and crackling sound it made can only be described as the sound of the gates of hell opening up (and i don't believe in hell).

That picture is taken right around the corner from my house. You could feel the heat blowing in from the fire.

I was just out there reporting from about a mile and a half away.

4 people were injured, none seriously; one with burns to the lower part of the body was taken from the hospital.

The explosion happened at 8:18 local time. I checked the USGS but they haven't listed what the magnitude of the blast.

One source I spoke with said at least one person was reported injured by flying debris while driving on I-20. Another source said that three on-site contractors were injured along with a plant worker.

Authorities said that there is no immediate danger to the city of Big Spring and they are going to let the fire burn itself out. The winds were blowing out of the southwest blowing the smoke northeast-away from the city. When leaving our observation point, I did see several emergency response personnel monitoring the air quality.

Spokesman for the company believe that the explosion occurred in the area of the light gas processing area of the plant; most likely from the ignition of a vapor cloud.

With it being a holiday, there were not as many personnel on duty and some at the scene reported an alarm was sounded prior to the large explosion.

This Alon facility produces, (oops sorry) produced 700,000 gal of gasoline per day.

There are other concerns voiced by several persons that work with Alon, more on that later.

Seems like a big event, yet the mainstream news is not covering as if it was.

reply to post by pluckynoonez


Because this will drive gas prices through the roof.. and that does NOT help the economy when everyone is supposed to be spending money and thinking everything is fine and dandy..

MM will play it down.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


I sincerely hope this was not some deliberate attack meant to wreck havoc on the USA. With BP in Texas City having so many "strange" accidents, I can't help but feel that something else might be afoot -- but then maybe that's why I'm on a conspiracy website.

The best news is that it was a holiday there and most of the employees were off. I'm going to pray for those injured, and I thank God you and your family are safe.

If this was going to happen, it seems like today was the best possible day for it to have happened. There's the working of a strange mercy in that.

I'm trying to load videos onto YouTube but it's giving me hell!

Here's another picture of the mushroom cloud seconds after the explosion.

Wow - amazing photos and great reporting from those on the scene. I'm also baffled as to why this is not getting more coverage. I guess the gasoline shortage angle is the reason. I haven't been online all day and I checked my yahoo email account before coming to ATS. There is no mention of this incident on Yahoo and they cover EVERYTHING. Strange.

I will send healing thoughts out those affected by this mess.

OK, still can't get it on YouTube so I loaded some video onto LiveLeak.
Click Here For Video

Can anyone confirm the numbers of barrels or gallons of Gasoline/diesel that was produced daily at this facility in terms of a percentage of total gallons of Gasoline/diesel consumed per day in the USA?

edit: thanks to those posting pics and updates. Hopefully as the NWO adgenda increases in intensity, as shown today, ATS can become a main place to get local updates and stories around the world.

[edit on 18-2-2008 by aaaauroraaaaa]

Top reporting and pix

I hope all in the area are safe.

Someone should get down there and video as much of the airspace around the area as possible.....

You never know what might show up

Great pics and reporting


I just wanted to point out that this was not the only explosion today. There is this as well.

BREAKING NEWS: Natural gas explosion lights up Mt. Top sky

There was an explosion at a gas pipeline transfer station in Mt. Top, PA.
I found this part particularly interesting.

The FBI was called in because the pipeline that feeds the transfer station runs across multiple states.

The cause of this is under investigation.

Thought it was worth a mention.