La Porte shelter in place lifted, 8 people hospitalized from chemicals - Houston Chronicle

Eight employees were evacuated from Altivia after a shelter-in-place order was issued for La Porte residents because of a chemical emergency Monday afternoon.

The office of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that eight people were taken from Altivia because of exposure, and their conditions were stabilized. The La Porte Police Department confirmed that the people exposed to the chemicals were employees of the facility.

The city of La Porte said residents south of Fairmont Parkway to Spencer Highway and Baytown Area Boulevard and South 16th Street needed to take shelter at the nearest building and close doors and windows and turn off cooling and heating systems. The two locations were told to shelter based on the city limits being south of Fairmont while the La Porte police's boundaries were north of Fairmont.

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"Working on a possible chemical release at a local facility. We have a shelter-in-place in the Bay Area between Fairmont and Spencer,” said J. Scott Pullig, assistant chief of the Patrol Support Services Bureau.

However, police later stated that the shelter-in-place had been lifted.

Police said Altivia had a possible phosgene release. Harris County Pollution Control was monitoring the air quality, and the Harris County Precinct 8 constable also responded.

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According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, phosgene gas is colorless and can smell like musty hay. The agency said phosgene can be fatal in high enough concentrations and was responsible for the majority of deaths from chemical warfare during World War I.

"Exposure to phosgene may cause irritation to the eyes, dry burning throat, vomiting, cough, foamy sputum, breathing difficulty, and chest pain; and when liquid: frostbite. Workers may be harmed from exposure to phosgene," the CDC website states.

A screening tool from the Environmental Protection Agency said the 3-mile area surrounding Altivia ranks in the 99th percentile nationally for toxic releases into the air, at over 130 times the national average. It is also in the 94th percentile for lifetime risk of cancer from air toxins.

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