Watch today's congressional hearing at noon :

http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Concerns about terrorism and plant security weren't the only reasons Bayer CropScience officials objected to a federal agency's plans for a public meeting about the August explosion and fire that killed two workers at Bayer's Institute plant.

Bayer lawyers also complained to the federal Chemical Safety Board that the meeting would create negative publicity for Bayer and give plant neighbors a forum to object to the continued storage of large amounts of deadly methyl isocyanate at the facility.

Company officials went so far as to initially state that they would not attend the meeting if members of the local group People Concerned About MIC were allowed to take part.

Chemical Safety Board staffers outlined these Bayer objections in notes taken during a February meeting with Bayer and released late last week to The Charleston Gazette in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

One set of board staff notes said Bayer was concerned "there will be questions from the public about MIC" and that company officials said, "Bayer has had problems with the media and community concerning MIC; pressure from community to remove all MIC from the facility."

Another set of board notes said Bayer lawyer Robert Gombar told agency officials "there are 'external pressures' from the community in the Kanawha Valley." Bayer officials were "not enthusiastic about participating in the public meeting panel -- depends on who is on the panel -- if People Concerned About MIC is in the panel, Bayer won't participate," the notes said.

Bayer CropScience CEO William Buckner and plant manager Nick Crosby have been invited to testify at a congressional hearing today on the August explosion, and Crosby is listed among those scheduled to take part in Thursday night's meeting in Institute.

Tom Dover, a Bayer plant spokesman, said the company "never objected to a meeting with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board."

"We look forward to Thursday's meeting and our participation as a panel member," Dover said in a prepared statement. "Open dialogue with our neighbors and the community is part of how the site conducts its operations."

But, just a week after the Aug. 28, 2008, explosion, Bayer refused to take part in a community meeting organized by People Concerned About MIC.

Watch today's congressional hearing at noon :

http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Concerns about terrorism and plant security weren't the only reasons Bayer CropScience officials objected to a federal agency's plans for a public meeting about the August explosion and fire that killed two workers at Bayer's Institute plant.

Bayer lawyers also complained to the federal Chemical Safety Board that the meeting would create negative publicity for Bayer and give plant neighbors a forum to object to the continued storage of large amounts of deadly methyl isocyanate at the facility.

Company officials went so far as to initially state that they would not attend the meeting if members of the local group People Concerned About MIC were allowed to take part.

Chemical Safety Board staffers outlined these Bayer objections in notes taken during a February meeting with Bayer and released late last week to The Charleston Gazette in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

One set of board staff notes said Bayer was concerned "there will be questions from the public about MIC" and that company officials said, "Bayer has had problems with the media and community concerning MIC; pressure from community to remove all MIC from the facility."

Another set of board notes said Bayer lawyer Robert Gombar told agency officials "there are 'external pressures' from the community in the Kanawha Valley." Bayer officials were "not enthusiastic about participating in the public meeting panel -- depends on who is on the panel -- if People Concerned About MIC is in the panel, Bayer won't participate," the notes said.

Bayer CropScience CEO William Buckner and plant manager Nick Crosby have been invited to testify at a congressional hearing today on the August explosion, and Crosby is listed among those scheduled to take part in Thursday night's meeting in Institute.

Tom Dover, a Bayer plant spokesman, said the company "never objected to a meeting with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board."

"We look forward to Thursday's meeting and our participation as a panel member," Dover said in a prepared statement. "Open dialogue with our neighbors and the community is part of how the site conducts its operations."

But, just a week after the Aug. 28, 2008, explosion, Bayer refused to take part in a community meeting organized by People Concerned About MIC.

About two months later, Bayer officials took part in a second meeting that was carefully orchestrated by company public relations from Charles Ryan Associates and Ann Green Communications. At that meeting, residents were allowed to ask questions, but no comments or statements by the public were allowed.

And, after its February meeting with Bayer, the safety board postponed a scheduled March 19 meeting where board investigators had planned to release preliminary findings. Publicly, board officials had said only that Bayer objected to the release of some information about the plant that company lawyers said should remain confidential under obscure Coast Guard rules for chemical plant security and anti-terrorism protections.

The meeting was rescheduled for Thursday evening after Coast Guard officials cleared the release of most of the material the board planned to discuss. The meeting is 6:30 p.m. at the West Virginia State University Wilson Building in Multipurpose Room 103.

Plant worker Barry Withrow was killed in the explosion and a second employee, Bill Oxley, died about six weeks later at a burn center in Pittsburgh. Thousands of residents between South Charleston and the Putnam County line were advised to take shelter in their homes.

The explosion occurred in a unit where Bayer makes methomyl, which it then uses to produce Larvin, the company's brand name of the insecticide thiodicarb.

But the Institute plant is best known for its production and use of methyl isocyanate, or MIC, the chemical that killed thousands in a leak from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, in December 1984.

Bayer uses MIC to make methomyl, and the methomyl unit includes a tank that can hold up to 40,000 pounds of MIC, according to company disclosures filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That storage tank -- known as the "day tank" -- is located 50 to 75 feet from the location of the August explosion, according to state and federal inspectors.

Safety board investigators have been looking into that tank, and asking Bayer questions about whether it was in an unsafe location or had appropriate safety devices. Also, residents were pushing for the board to look into longstanding questions of why the Institute plant does not reduce its huge MIC stockpile as other facilities have done.

Meeting notes reveal that Bayer officials urged the safety board not to examine the MIC tank in question or look at broader MIC issues at the Institute plant.

One set of meeting notes says Bayer officials told board members it was concerned "there will be questions from the public about MIC." Bayer suggested the board simply tell residents: "Bayer minimizes inventory and has multiple layers of protection in their processes, rely on the training of operators, have specific safety procedures in place when using MIC."

The notes say Bayer officials complained its "experiences with panels in the past have been negative -- generate bad publicity for the company."

It's still not clear whether the safety board will examine broader questions about MIC storage and use at the Institute plant. But board officials have said their probe does include "the appropriateness of the location of the MIC day tank."

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.