Incident At Eastman Chemical Could Take Weeks To Investigate – Asbestos Found In Debris

The cause of what Eastman Chemical is calling a steam line failure could takes weeks to determine. That’s according to officials with Eastman Chemical in Kingsport. The “steam line failure” Monday morning caused an explosion like noise that shook the ground for miles around the plant…basically causing all of Kingsport to feel the ground shake. Five people were sent to the hospital with minor injuries. A utility steam line that delivers power to Eastman manufacturing operations and heats and powers the company’s buildings failed somewhere in the northeast section of the massive plant. Witnesses from as close as a quarter-mile away and as far as five miles away described an initial very loud noise followed by a loud rumbling that lasted more than 10 minutes…people also reported the ground shaking. Eastman is working on determinng what happened but that could take several weeks. Eastman Chemical also stated that debris that was expelled from the plant following the incident has been tested and some of it tested positive for asbestos. Eastman Chemical is warning residents not to touch any of the debris, but call Eastman and allow their clean up crews to handle the debris.