Do you live near a high risk chemical plant?
One in three Americans is at risk of a poison gas disaster by living near one of hundreds of chemical facilities that store and use highly toxic chemicals. A chemical disaster at just one of these facilities could kill or injure thousands of people with acute poisoning. Of the 12,361 chemical facilities that report their chemical disaster scenarios to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Greenpeace has identified 483 chemical facilities across the U.S. that each put 100,000 people or more at risk. Of those, 92 put one million or more people at risk up to 25 miles downwind from a plant.
The good news is that there are many cost-effective, safer chemical processes already in use that eliminate these risks without sacrificing jobs. Since 1999, more than 500 plants have switched to safer alternatives. But that's not what most chemical plants have done. Even though chemical plant safeguards fail every week, the chemical industry has largely refused to make their plants safer and more secure.
This problem is not new, the world was shocked in 1984 when thousands of people were killed at a chemical plant disaster in Bhopal, India in 1984. Congress even amended the Clean Air Act in 1990 to try and address this problem, but the amendment has gone largely unused. It's time for the Obama Administration to finally create new regulations under the Clean Air Act that will require these dangerous facilities to prevent chemical disasters by switching to safer alternatives.
Find out what you can do to help protect communities: please click here.
>>One in three Americans is at risk of a poison gas disaster by living near one of hundreds of chemical facilities that store and use highly toxic chemicals. A chemical disaster at just one of these facilities could kill or injure thousands of people with acute poisoning. Of the 12,361 chemical facilities that report their chemical disaster scenarios to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Greenpeace has identified 483 chemical facilities across the U.S. that each put 100,000 people or more at risk. Of those, 92 put one million or more people at risk up to 25 miles downwind from a plant.
The good news is that there are many cost-effective, safer chemical processes already in use that eliminate these risks without sacrificing jobs. Since 1999, more than 500 plants have switched to safer alternatives. But that's not what most chemical plants have done. Even though chemical plant safeguards fail every week, the chemical industry has largely refused to make their plants safer and more secure.
This problem is not new, the world was shocked in 1984 when thousands of people were killed at a chemical plant disaster in Bhopal, India in 1984. Congress even amended the Clean Air Act in 1990 to try and address this problem, but the amendment has gone largely unused. It's time for the Obama Administration to finally create new regulations under the Clean Air Act that will require these dangerous facilities to prevent chemical disasters by switching to safer alternatives.
TAKE ACTION >Find out what you can do to help protect communities: please click here.
> The bulk use and storage of poison gases like chlorine at chemical facilities and wastewater and drinking water plants puts millions of Americans at risk of a Bhopal magnitude chemical disaster. Just 300 of these plants put a third of Americans at risk. But some communities no longer face these risks because they switched to safer chemical processes. For example, Washington, DC converted their waste water treatment plant 90 days after the 9/11 attacks. Before 9/11 their use of chlorine gas put 1.7 million people at risk.
President Obama's Department of Homeland Security and Environmental Protection Agency have consistently asked Congress for the authority to remove these risks by requiring the use of safer chemical processes where feasible. Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress have blocked these efforts. President Obama can implement authority under the Clean Air Act to require companies to design and operate their facilities in a way that prevents the catastrophic release of poison gasses.
Greenpeace - Chemical Plant Locator | Urge President Obama to use his authority to prevent chemical disasters | Greenpeace USA
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