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Late Breaking News |
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| Date: July 22, 1998 11:30 am Contact: US PIRG Allison LaPlante, Liz Hitchcock (202) 546-9707 |
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Latest News Releases
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Report Finds That One In Six Americans Is At Risk From Dangerous Chemical Accident Exposure | ||
| WASHINGTON - July 22 - At least one in six Americans is at risk of being
harmed by a severe chemical accident, according to a report released today by U.S. PIRG
and the National Environmental Law Center (NELC). The report, Too Close To
Home: Chemical Accident Risks in the United States, found that more than 41
million Americans live within range of a toxic cloud that could result from a chemical
accident at a facility located in their home zip code. "Far too many citizens live or work in the shadow of risks posed by the storage and use of extremely dangerous chemicals," said Allison LaPlante, U.S. PIRG Environmental Advocate. "Toxic gas releases, fires, and explosions pose a danger to people from all walks of life - from factory workers and firefighters to schoolchildren. Too Close to Home demonstrates how close we all live to potential disasters." The report documents the history of industry and government’s focus on responding to accidents after they occur rather than preventing them in the first place. Factory workers and emergency response workers are particularly concerned about preventing toxic chemical accidents and pollution. "All workers have a critical role to play in chemical accident prevention," said Michael Sprinker of the International Chemical Workers Union Council. "However, until we have a clear understanding of how toxic chemicals are used in production, transportation, and commerce, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to prevent the majority of toxic chemical accidents. We have the right to know and the right to take part making processes inherently safer." Other major findings of the report include the following: **The top ten states ranked by worst-case accident potential are Texas, Ohio, Louisiana, California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, Michigan, and Georgia. **The risk of worst-case disasters is wide-spread across the U.S. More than half of the counties analyzed had facilities with vulnerable zones greater than five miles. **Fourteen of the top 20 counties for disaster potential were also among the top 20 in the frequency of accidents reported between 1993 and 1995. Too Close to Home gives a national overview and county-by-county ranking of vulnerability to the impacts of chemical disasters. "Worst-case scenarios" were calculated using an EPA methodology, for nearly 8,000 U.S. manufacturing companies. Each scenario gives the distance from a facility - the vulnerable zone - in which people’s lives would be in danger from the facility’s worst possible accident. The rankings are based on the sum of all worst case scenarios that could be calculated from readily accessible federal Right to Know data on the storage of 94 extremely hazardous chemicals. "This report should be a call to action," said Hillel Gray, NELC Policy Director. "The time has come for companies in this country to stop downplaying toxic risks and start giving complete information about potential accidents. The public has a right to know what dangers exist and what specific prevention actions are underway." U.S. PIRG and NELC call for three actions to protect communities and promote pollution and accident prevention. ***The Clinton Administration should stand firm against chemical industry pressure and make readily available to the public all Risk Management Plans (RMPs) including worst-case accident scenarios as mandated under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. ***Congress and the Clinton Administration should expand and improve the public’s Right to Know about toxic chemical use and accidents. ***The Clinton Administration should fill all positions and fully fund the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. " We urge Members of Congress to cosponsor H.R. 1636, the Children’s Environmental Protection and Right to Know Act and S. 769 the Right to Know More and Pollution Prevention Act, which would expand the public’s right to know about toxic chemicals used in the workplace and transported through communities. We further urge the Clinton Administration and the EPA to move forward swiftly with their proposals to add chemical use reporting to the Toxics Release Inventory," said LaPlante ### The text of this report will be available at |
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