Explosion Coast

Port Arthur is home to several petrochemical industries; several explosions have occurred in the 2000s. The nickname “Explosion Coast” has been cited in print in October 2010, but probably originated earlier.
 
     
Wikipedia: Port Arthur, Texas
Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area of the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 57,755 at the 2000 census.
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Economy
After decades of stagnation and neglect in the area economy, Port Arthur is in the early stages of an economic boom. Several large projects involving the energy infrastructure are underway or proposed, the two largest being the Golden Pass and Sabine Pass LNG terminals. These separate projects under construction in neighboring Sabine Pass have brought cumulative initial investments of $2 billion, and will employ thousands at peak construction.
 
Home to a large portion of United States refining capacity, Port Arthur is now seeing renewed investment in several key installations. Motiva Enterprises is undertaking a major addition to its western Port Arthur refinery, expanding capacity to 600,000 barrels per day (95,000 m3/d). This $10.0 billion project is the largest US refinery expansion to occur in 30 years. Premcor Refining (Now Valero) recently completed a $775 million expansion of its petrochemical plant, and BASF/Fina commenced operations of a new $1.75 billion gasification and cogeneration unit on premises of its current installation, which had just completed its own $1 billion upgrade. These operations are supported by the Port of Port Arthur, one of Texas’ leading seaports.
 
The city was the site of an oil spill in 2010, when an oil tanker and barge collided, causing 450,000 gallons of oil to spill into the Sabine/Neches waterway alongside the city.
 
Denton (TX) Record-Chronicle
Parents voice health concerns
Gas drilling near Argyle schools making kids ill, residents tell board
12:18 AM CDT on Sunday, October 24, 2010
By Lowell Brown and Britney Tabor / Staff Writers
ARGYLE — Kelly Gant once worked for an oil refinery in Port Arthur — an area nicknamed “Explosion Coast” and “Cancer Alley.”
 
Argyle-Bartonville Community Alliance
What We Said, Part One
by admin on October 29, 2010
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I worked for an oil refinery for two years in Port Arthur – an area nicknamed “Explosion Coast” and “Cancer Alley.” I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. When I was finally able to leave, they were in the middle of a government-mandated, $200 million soil remediation project. In layman’s terms, it’s a clean-up where they harvest all the dirt around them, run it through incinerators, rendering it inert and incapable of ever growing anything, mixing it with cementations materials and then dumping it back where they found it.