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hazardous chemical incidents
EPA Praised for Boost to 'Lifesaving' Protections From Chemical Incidents
One campaigner called it "a foundational step toward protecting the health and safety of communities and workers on the fenceline of the petrochemical industry."
Mar 01, 2024
Hazardous chemical incidents such as explosions, fires, and toxic releases happen almost daily in the United States, often at fossil fuel facilities, and the Biden administration won praise on Friday for stepping up safeguards for impacted communities.
Dionne Delli-Gatti, associate vice president of community engagement at Environmental Defense Fund, was among the public health and environmental justice advocates applauding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for what she called "a foundational step toward protecting the health and safety of communities and workers on the fenceline of the petrochemical industry."
The agency finalized changes to a Risk Management Program (RMP) that covers 11,740 facilities across the country. Noting that many communities "vulnerable to chemical accidents are in overburdened and underserved areas," EPA Administrator Michael Regan framed the rule as a key piece of the administration's "commitment to advancing environmental justice."
"The new rule, while not perfect, will go a long way to protect people's health."
Accidental releases from RMP facilities cost over $540 million annually and highly impact approximately 131 million people who live within three miles of such sites—including 44 million earning less than or equal to twice the poverty level, 32 million who identify as Hispanic or Latino, and 20 million who identify as Black or African American, according to EPA estimates.
"Over 1 in every 3 schoolchildren in the U.S. attends a school within the danger zone of these facilities. Children are uniquely vulnerable to the health impacts caused by toxic chemical exposures such as respiratory illnesses and cancers," said Moms Clean Air Force vice president Dominique Browning. "Moms—and all caregivers—support EPA's important step in the strengthening of the Risk Management Program. We urge EPA to swiftly implement and enforce the new rules to help protect the health and safety of all children."
As the EPA summarized, the amendments include:
- Requiring a safer technologies and alternatives analysis, and in some cases, implementation of reliable safeguard measures for certain facilities in industry sectors with high accident rates;
- Advancing employee participation, training, and opportunities for employee decision-making in facility accident prevention;
- Reiterating the allowance of a partial or complete process shutdown in the event of a potential catastrophic release;
- Implementing a process to allow employees and their representatives to anonymously report specific unaddressed hazards;
- Requiring third-party compliance audits and root cause analysis incident investigation for facilities that have had a prior accident;
- Enhancing facility planning and preparedness efforts to strengthen emergency response by ensuring chemical release information is timely shared with local responders and a community notification system is in place to warn the community of any impending release;
- Emphasizing the requirement for regulated facilities to evaluate risks of natural hazards and climate change, including any associated loss of power; and
- Increasing transparency by providing access to RMP facility information for communities nearby.
"While there is certainly more that must be done to prevent chemical disasters, EPA's rule is a major step forward for ensuring that the most hazardous facilities implement safer technologies and provide greater public access to information," said Earthjustice attorney Kathleen Riley. "We urge industry to implement these lifesaving measures without delay."
Jason Walsh, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, which brings together labor unions and environmental groups, also welcomed the update, stressing that "a strong RMP rule empowers workers and saves lives. It protects workers and emergency responders and safeguards communities in the shadow of these chemical facilities."
Jennifer Jones, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' Center for Science and Democracy, pointed out that "the previous administration severely weakened those rules, depriving communities of information about what hazardous chemicals they might be exposed to and rolling back critical safety requirements intended to protect workers at facilities covered by the RMP."
"In recent years, hundreds of chemical incidents have occurred at facilities covered by the RMP—imposing a serious cost to workers and people living in harm's way, as well as to first responders and local governments that have to deal with the aftermath," Jones continued. "The new rule, while not perfect, will go a long way to protect people's health."
The Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters, which has tracked incidents involving hazardous chemicals since January 2021, documented at least 323 events last year, at least 81 of which occurred at RMP facilities.
"We're glad that EPA stood its ground despite strong industry pressure and required more RMP facilities to report on safer chemicals and processes that could be implemented to prevent chemical disasters," Maya Nye, federal policy director at coalition member Coming Clean, said Friday. "This establishes an important precedent."
"We will continue urging EPA to require all RMP facilities to identify and transition to safer chemicals and processes in accordance with the principles laid out in the Louisville Charter for Safer Chemicals, as part of our ongoing work to transform the chemical industry so that it's no longer a source of harm," Nye added.
Michele Roberts, co-coordinator of another coalition member, the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform, celebrated the EPA's new online database for RMP facilities, and highlighted that "communities have been asking for this information for decades."
"We have a right to know whether our houses, schools, and places of worship are threatened by a potential chemical disaster," she said. "We look forward to a time when a database on RMP facility and hazard information will no longer be needed because every facility will have transitioned to safe chemicals and processes, but in the meantime EPA making this critical information more accessible to communities is a huge step."
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Day After Texas Fire, Report Reveals US Hazardous Chemical Incidents Occur Almost Daily
"Hazardous facilities must be required to do more to protect workers and communities," said Coming Clean's federal policy director.
Nov 09, 2023
A shelter-in-place order has been lifted in two Texas counties after a chemical plant fire on Wednesday, which came on the eve of a report showing just how frequent such incidents are across the United States, particularly at sites tied to the fossil fuel industry.
There have been at least 287 hazardous chemical incidents—including explosions, fires, and toxic releases—this year alone, and over 825 since the beginning of 2021, according to the Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters' online database.
That works out to nearly one incident per day—which, as The Guardiannoted Thursday, tracks with its February reporting. That analysis showed such events occurred every two days but did not include revised figures from Texas' 2021 cold weather.
"Preventable chemical incidents are happening far too often across the country," Maya Nye, federal policy director of coalition member Coming Clean, said in a statement Thursday. "Communities shouldn't have to leave their homes, shelter in place, or worry for the safety of their air and water because chemical plants can't contain their toxic chemicals."
"Hazardous facilities must be required to do more to protect workers and communities," Nye argued.
The new analysis of the coalition's data, released Thursday by Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA), reveals that between January 1, 2021 and October 15, 2023:
- 43 people lost their lives in the immediate aftermath of a hazardous chemical incident;
- Over 150 incidents have resulted in injury, hospitalization, and/or reports of acute symptoms following a chemical exposure event;
- 191 communities were advised or required to evacuate; and
- 101 communities were advised to shelter in place.
"The majority of chemical incidents that have occurred in this period... can be traced to the toxic lifecycle of fossil fuels," the report notes. That includes not only the extraction and transportation of crude oil and gas but also the production of fertilizers, fuels, pesticides, petrochemicals, and plastics from fossil fuel feedstocks; the use and storage of chemicals made using such feedstocks; the distribution of petrochemicals; and the disposal and recycling of petrochemical products.
More than 50 incidents involved chemical distribution, transportation, and storage—perhaps most notably, the February train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio that led to a public health and environmental disaster as well as demands for federal reforms.
Nearly 100 of the incidents happened in the oil and gas sector, including major oil pipeline leaks in Illinois and Kansas. Almost half of the events occurred at refineries; among them was a fire at a BP facility last year that killed two workers, who were brothers.
Over 340 of the incidents involved plastics and petrochemical manufacturing, including a 2021 explosion in Ohio that killed one workers and injured eight others, and an April fire at a Georgia facility that prompted evacuation and shelter-in-place orders.
"Texas had more hazardous chemical incidents in this period than any other state in the county—with at least 79 chemical incidents," the report highlights. It was followed by California (46), Louisiana (39), Illinois (30), and Ohio (30).
Two years ago, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced plans to update its Risk Management Program (RMP) rule. At least 179 of incidents through mid-October occurred at facilities regulated by that program, according to the analysis.
The Guardian reported Thursday that when asked about the analysis, "the EPA confirmed that agency officials were 'working towards' having a final rule by December that includes provisions to protect vulnerable communities from chemical accidents."
The EPA told the newspaper that "when finalized the rule is expected to make communities safer by reducing the frequency of chemical releases and their adverse effects."
Michele Roberts, national coordinator of EJHA, said that "safer chemicals and processes exist now, and many more could be developed if EPA had the moral and political courage to require and implement them."
"It is inexcusable that hazardous facilities are permitted to harm communities of color and low-income communities so disproportionately," Roberts added.
As for Wednesday's fire at a Sound Resource Solutions plant in Texas—which injured one worker—the San Jacinto County Office of Emergency Management offered an update Thursday morning.
"A private hazmat crew is currently on scene securing an alcohol leak from a tanker trailer," the office said. "Once the hazmat team has secured the leak investigations will begin on the accident."
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