Chemical security

EPA should do more to prevent chemical disasters that threaten local economies

Chemical disasters can be devastating to local economies. Just ask West Virginia businesses whose economy lost $19 million per day after the Elk River spill in 2015.

The EPA is now updating rules on chemical facility safety to minimize the impact of such accidents, but sadly, the planned changes will do very little to prevent chemical disasters. Instead, new chemical security rules should include prevention and information sharing in order to mitigate the risks.

Unfortunately, Elk River was no outlier. Of the 12,500 hazardous chemical facilities covered by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Risk Management Program (RMP), as many as 466 pose a catastrophic hazard to 100,000 or more people. That’s more than 100 million people in the U.S. who could be in harm’s way following another chemical disaster - some of which could make the Elk River spill pale in comparison.

Local businesses and economies feel the effects of these disasters. When drinking water is contaminated or communities are evacuated, even if for a short time, it forces many main street businesses to close, and in extreme cases, go out of business.