(C) Verite News New Orleans This story was originally published by Verite News New Orleans and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Chemical plants must now assess climate risks, but new rules fall short of requiring safeguards [1] ['Tristan Baurick', 'More Tristan Baurick', 'Verite News'] Date: 2024-03-20 A long-awaited revamp of federal safety rules will, for the first time, require hundreds of chemical plants and refineries in Louisiana to assess how hurricanes and floods could trigger explosions, oil spills and toxic gas releases into nearby communities. But the new rules fall short of actually requiring companies to do anything about these risks. On March 1, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized a series of changes to a program that regulates nearly 12,000 facilities across the country that use or store large amounts of hazardous substances in populated areas. Under the program, these facilities must submit a Risk Management Plan (RMP) to the EPA that spells out worst-case scenarios for chemical disasters. Proposed changes that were backed by environmental groups would have also required companies to mitigate risks from extreme weather with stronger chemical storage tanks, levees to protect against flooding and other measures. But industry groups objected, calling such mandates costly and unnecessary. Over the past 20 years, storms on the Gulf Coast have caused oil spills, chemical fires and toxic gas releases that forced evacuations and sent dozens of people to the hospital. Few deaths have been linked to those events, but experts say the risks are growing as climate change stokes more intense storms. Under development for more than two years, the rules don’t adequately address the most pressing issues facing communities under threat from both extreme weather and chemical releases, said Robert Taylor, executive director of the Concerned Citizens of St. John the Baptist Parish, a group opposed to the growth of the petrochemical industry in the mostly low-income and Black communities along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. “If [the rules] don’t protect us from the poison in the air when there’s a storm, what’s the purpose?” he said. “It’s nonsensical to suggest the risk but then don’t require these companies to protect us.” In Louisiana, RMPs from 2022 show petrochemical facilities could unleash toxic gases across swaths of New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles and the Mississippi River industrial corridor known as “Cancer Alley.” Several of the 535 RMPs for sites in Louisiana, including the Chalmette Refinery just outside New Orleans, already note that extreme weather could cause what companies consider their worst-case scenarios. “With an accelerating climate crisis and storms like Hurricane Harvey and others having an impact on chemical plants, it’s very important that facilities assess these risks,” said Darya Minovi, an analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists. The group published a report in 2021 that estimated nearly a third of RMP facilities in the U.S. are located in areas prone to flooding, storms and wildfires. RMP facilities also tend to be concentrated in communities with high percentages of Black and Latino residents and low-income households, according to an EPA assessment in 2018. The Union of Concerned Scientists and other environmental groups praised the EPA for making several incremental RMP rule changes, including new requirements for the use of safer technologies, increased worker involvement in safety planning and better community notification of toxic emissions. Minovi had hoped the rules would require companies to build sturdier storage tanks, taller levees and other safeguards in hurricane- and flood-prone areas, but she said the EPA’s push to get companies to at least consider extreme weather threats is a step in the right direction. “Overall, we’re pleased the EPA’s final [rules] included requirements to evaluate natural hazards,” Minovi said. Left: Hurricane Harvey damaged several chemical facilities, like this one, on the East Texas coast in 2017. Right: An oily sheen covers Hurricane Ida floodwaters at the Alliance Refinery near Belle Chasse, Louisiana in September 2021. Credit: U.S. Coast Guard But communities in Cancer Alley already know many of the dangers they face. What they need are rules that protect them, Taylor said. “The information we already get from the government is frightening,” he said, referring to the volume of toxic chemicals stored and sometimes accidentally released from plants in St. John and neighboring parishes. “What’s more frightening is the government is doing nothing about it.” The Denka Performance Elastomers plant in Reserve, a half-mile from Taylor’s house, could release chlorine gas across an area with more than 100,000 residents or produce an explosion large enough to damage a nearby elementary school, according to its 2020 RMP. The facility, which produces a chemical used in the manufacture of synthetic rubber, is in a flood risk zone but its RMP makes almost no mention of floods or hurricanes. A Denka spokesperson said the facility is on higher ground than the surrounding area and has weathered past storms with little damage. The facility is scheduled to update its RMP next year. The Chalmette Refinery RMP in 2022 listed floods and hurricanes among the potential causes of mishaps that could release hydrofluoric acid in the form of a fast-moving and highly toxic gas. While the refinery’s operators stress that such an event is highly unlikely to occur, the facility’s RMP notes that large amounts of the gas could spread anywhere within the New Orleans metro area within a few minutes. Louisiana plant and refinery operators say the new rules present unwarranted burdens on an industry that’s been improving storm preparedness and facility safety for decades. According to the American Chemical Council, chemical-related incidents have decreased 80% since the RMP program was created in 1996. Taylor hopes the EPA strengthens the rules even further, making companies do more than simply assess climate dangers. “Until then, all these rules do is give people a false sense of security,” he said. Related Stories Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. [END] --- [1] Url: https://veritenews.org/2024/03/20/epa-rules-chemical-plants-climate-risks/ Published and (C) by Verite News New Orleans Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 US. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/veritenews/