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Community forum to take place over new chemical plant in Killeen

Posted at 12:13 PM, Sep 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-20 14:14:10-04

A Killeen City Councilwoman will be holding a community forum to discuss a chemical plant scheduled to be built in response to concerns raised by residents. 

Councilwoman Shirley Fleming of District One said the entire community was blindsided by this new project when it was announced in August. She believes the citizens were not properly informed by Killeen's Economic Development Corporation. 

"Transparency would have been nice. They should have allowed the citizens to have an input in this," Fleming said. "I only learned about this plant when it hit the paper, we got a memorandum the same day."

Hydrogen peroxide and ammonium hydroxide are the two main chemicals that will be manufactured at the plant owned by MCG Pure Chemicals America Inc.  

Fleming said she began receiving phone calls from residents in her in the area including Copperas Cove and Harker Heights, of concerns about the safety of the plant being located in a highly populated area. Some questioned if the chemicals will be released into the atmosphere and if this will cost taxpayers any money. 

In response to these concerns, Councilwoman Fleming has designed a community forum so everyone can have their questions answered.

"This should have been a forum months ago or weeks ago to let the public know whats going on," Fleming said. 

Mayor Jose Segarra said citizens should not be concerned because there are already safety measures in place.

"There [are] a lot of regulations when it comes to chemical plants by the Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies," Segarra said.  "There [are] all kinds of safety measures that go into that." 

The community forum will take place at the Killeen Community Center on Sept. 28 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. 

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