Vinyl chloride leak @ Dow Chemical

Like we reported yesterday in Hairballs, the petrochemical industry is cranking things back up all over southeast Texas now that Ike is gone, but things aren't going entirely peachy at Dow Chemical, where at 2:13 a.m. this morning a vinyl chloride leak was sprung.

As you may know, vinyl chloride has been identified as a carcinogen by our government.

What happened?

It says here that
"A heat exchanger leaked vinyl chloride into the cooling water system which vented to the air."

An estimated 39.8 pounds of vinyl chloride was released, but by 8:58 a.m. today it was all over and everybody went on about their business. wondering when their power would be restored.