Update from Praxair

Below is a letter sent to the Praxair taskforce after requesting information about recent activity at the Praxair site:


Dear Ms. Breeden

I am aware that you have been concerned about recent activity at the Praxair site on Chouteau Ave. I have prepared an update which I am sure you will want to share with your colleagues.

UPDATE:

Praxair Distribution is continuing to have discussions with interested parties regarding the future use of its facility on Chouteau Ave. This facility was damaged during a fire on June 24, 2005.

As part of the site preparation for a different use, Praxair is currently removing equipment and other materials from the property.

Piping and pump equipment have been dismantled and removed. A high-security gas storage facility structure, including a deluge water system, has also been dismantled and shipped out.
Additional truckloads of materials will be removed over the next few days.

About 500 cylinders, containing various quantities of propane, propylene, acetylene, carbon dioxide and nitrogen, are still on the site and will also be removed. Some of these cylinders, containing propane and propylene, were damaged during the fire and, before being transported, will be flared. Only propane and propylene cylinders will be flared. (The flaring will take place in the open air on the Praxair site. The flaring burns the gases completely, just as the propane in a gas-fired barbecue is burned while cooking hamburgers, etc.)

This action, scheduled for the second week in May, has been approved by the St. Louis Fire Department. Praxair has requested Fire Dept. officers to be present during the flaring process.

Praxair is still working on locating an appropriate site for its industrial gas distribution business in the St. Louis region.


Nigel Muir
Vice President, Communications
Praxair, Inc.