January 29, 2015 - A 100,000-gallon sulfuric acid tank at the Honeywell plant in Hopewell ruptured just before noon yesterday from being over pressurized, causing an evacuation of Honeywell employees to a shelter.  Honeywell spokesman Peter Dalpe stated that the incident involved a tank that was not in service at the time. The tank was being cleaned for inspection, according to Dalpe, when the top flipped off the tank and ruptured.  Initial media reports stated that the incident was an explosion, which Honeywell spokesman Peter Dalpe denied.  “First, to clarify: There was no fire and this was not (an) explosion, which is (a) violent event. A tank ruptured causing a sound,” Dalpe stated in an email.  Honeywell’s emergency response teams responded immediately at around 11 a.m. when the incident occurred. The emergency was cleared by 12:17 p.m and the evacuation was lifted. There were no reported injuries.  Hopewell Fire Chief Donald Hunter said the fire department responded to the incident to help suppress the vapors that were released. Hunter said Honeywell personnel put water in the tank as a preventive measure.  “The vapors that were there were controlled by them (Honeywell) by water spray and it did not leave the general area, it stayed inside their facility,” Hunter said.  Honeywell has tested the air to assure residents that no sulfuric acid has been released.  “Sensors in the plant and testing done in the immediate area of the incident showed no detectable levels of sulfuric acid in the air,” Dalpe stated.  In November of 2014, a chemical spill at Honeywell was allegedly responsible for killing hundreds of fish in the nearby Gravelly Run creek. Bill Hayden, a spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Quality, said ammonium carbonate was released into the creek.  It’s not the first incident at the Honeywell plant.  The chemical caprolactam poured out of a truck on Route 10 in Chesterfield County in October of 2013, which closed the road down for several hours. The truck driver had been traveling from the Honeywell plant in Hopewell to the plant in Chesterfield. Lt. Jason Elmore of the Chesterfield Fire and EMS said the chemical was not an environmental or personal hazard.  Honeywell was charged with a $3 million fine by the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency in April 2013 for violating Clean Air Act limits on nitrogen oxide, benzene and other volatile organic compounds. Honeywell then agreed to a series of environmental upgrades for the Hopewell plant estimated at $66 million aiming to reduce “harmful air pollutants.” An agreement was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.  A statement from Honeywell at the time said the company did not admit to any of the alleged violations and is “committed to the highest standards of environmental compliance and sustainability at every one of our facilities.”