More on Alon accident

BIG SPRING Three workers at the Alon USA oil refinery plant near Big Spring were treated and released after a Monday evening “incident” involving a boiler there, Alon Chief Operating Officer Joseph Israel said in a statement.
   Alon officials were still investigating the cause of the incident. When asked for details, spokesman Blake Lewis said there was some sort of “detonation” inside the boiler, though he said “that’s probably a bigger term than it qualifies for.”
   “This was clearly a much more modest incident,” Lewis said, referring to the February 2008 explosion at the same facility.
   According to Israel’s statement, the rupture took place at 8:45 p.m. Monday. Lewis confirmed one of the injured was flown from there by helicopter, though that employee was released from the hospital later that evening.
   “This is all about being overly cautious and erring on the side of care and concern,” Lewis said.
   Lewis said the refinery was operating at its planned capacity Tuesday and the boiler detonation didn’t have any effect on the refinery’s production.