Flares and smoke seen at east Houston refinery

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- If you're seeing flaring and smoke, as well as hearing noise, from the refineries in east Houston, don't be alarmed.

LyondellBasell-Houston said it is responding to an event at its facility at 1200 Lawndale.

According to an alert message from the plant just after 2 p.m. Wednesday, a third-party steam supply was lost and it is going into emergency steam reduction, prompting sight of the flames.

But, it said there is no need for action by the community.

The plant later provided additional details in a statement:

"LyondellBasell's Channelview Complex located at 8280 Sheldon Road and Houston Refinery located at 12000 Lawndale Street are conducting controlled flaring to safely burn off excess materials. The flaring occurred as a result of a power/steam loss from a third party. There is no need for the community to take any action. Flaring is an essential part of the plant's safety systems. We are working to eliminate the flaring as soon as possible and apologize for any inconvenience this has caused."