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The Greenpeace report, issued last week, said that as the fire from the explosion spread, large quantities of oil were deliberately released from onshore tanks to avert devastating damage to a tank at the storage facility that was filled with dimethylbenzene, a flammable and poisonous gas used to make aviation fuel and solvents.

Greenpeace said that Mr. Steiner’s estimates were probably on the low side, because firefighters emptied several other oil tanks threatened by fire at the terminal to lessen the risk of damage to a nearby tank of the highly toxic chemical dimethylbenzene.