This could help keep our communities safe from chemical accidents

A 90-foot crater in the earth. Debris flung more than two miles through the air. Fifteen people killed and hundreds injured.

That’s what happened when a Texas chemical facility exploded in 2013. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created risk management rules to try and prevent this kind of disaster from happening again — but millions of Americans still live near facilities that are at risk of chemical catastrophe, and they may not even know it.

Right now, the EPA is considering a new rule that would require chemical facilities to better prepare for and prevent disaster, and we have a chance to tell the EPA to adopt these important chemical safety rules.

There are over 10,000 facilities that make, use or store hazardous chemicals in the country.

Over 3,000 of those are in areas at serious risk of natural hazards like wildfire and flooding — and when things go wrong at any of them, people can be injured or killed.

It sounds like common sense, right? Facilities that handle dangerous chemicals should have a plan for problems like fire, flood, and loss of power in place, so they’re ready to respond quickly and safely should a disaster occur. And they should notify the nearby community about any accidental release of chemicals that could affect peoples’ health, so that the families nearby are also equipped to keep themselves safe.

But the current Risk Management Plan rules governing chemical facilities don’t go far enough to protect us. Facilities can get away with half-baked disaster plans that don’t account for many natural hazards, and no community notification requirement at all.

The currently proposed rule would change that — if we can convince the EPA to implement it in its strongest possible form.

What kinds of new protections will we win if we succeed?

• Regulated facilities will have to analyze the risk of natural hazards (like fires, floods, and other impacts of climate change) and power loss when they make their disaster plans.
• Facilities will be required to provide chemical hazard information to communities within 6 miles, and to notify local residents and responders when an accident occurs.
• Third-party audits will be required for facilities with a bad track record on accidents.
• And more.

These common-sense changes could make the difference between life and death for employees and communities that work and live around these hazardous facilities.