June 1 marked the start of hurricane season for the Atlantic Basin. While not welcome, tropical storms, strong winds, and storm surges are an inevitable fact of life for many residents of the Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf Coast. As a new paper from the Center for Progressive Reform explains, with those storms can come preventable toxic flooding with public health consequences that are difficult to predict or control.
In Ernest Hemingway’s 1970 novel, Islands in the Stream, he wrote of his protagonist, Thomas Hudson, “He knew how to plot storms and the precautions that should be taken against them. He knew too what it was to live through a hurricane with the other people of the island and the bond that the hurricane made between all people who had been through it.”
Only Hemingway could romanticize hurricanes. And things have only gotten worse. Last month, a study by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found that hurricanes have become more intense and destructive over the last four decades. Climate change is largely responsible for these increasingly powerful storms, which can in turn yield sea level rise and flooding that make matters worse.
While Hudson may have known how to prepare for extreme weather events, data suggests that as a society, we're not so adept at preparation. Increasing coastal development, population density, and lack of public awareness about flood risks have made coastal communities vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather. A 2015 assessment of local land use plans found that many do not adequately protect areas most vulnerable to flooding, and in some cases, the plans increase physical and social vulnerability to hazards. Such lack of preparedness was a major factor in the catastrophic damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Florence in New Orleans and the Carolinas.
Flooding on its own can be devastating to affected communities for the obvious reasons – among them drowning or contact with debris, exposure to contaminated floodwaters or drinking water, exposure to mold in flood-damaged homes, and displacement. But as if that weren't enough, in 2017, Hurricane Harvey shed light on another hazard. On August 19, 2017, flooding at the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, disabled the plant’s refrigeration system, causing organic peroxides to explode. As a result, 21 people sought medical attention and hundreds within 1.5 miles of the plant evacuated their homes.
Alongside alarming climate projections, chemical and hazardous waste releases triggered by extreme weather are happening more often. A 2012 analysis of reports made to the National Response Center, which tracks oil, chemical, radiological, biological, and etiological discharges, found that hazardous material releases due to natural hazards increased in frequency between 1990 to 2008. Hurricane-related releases increased 15-fold from 2005 to 2008, and weather- and storm-related releases rose by eight and five percent during the study period.
Currently, 39 percent of the U.S. population (124 million people) lives within three miles of a high-risk chemical facility. Due to a legacy of redlining, exclusionary zoning practices, and other systematic forms of housing segregation, the vast majority of these people are Black, Hispanic, and have low wealth. After Hurricane Harvey, residents of Manchester, a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood in the Houston area that has 21 toxic facilities within a mile of it, noticed a persistent foul odor and experienced headaches and nausea, among other ailments. An assessment of household dust and outdoor soil found that residents were exposed to elevated levels of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), chemicals emitted by oil refineries that contribute to a greater risk of developing cancer.
The new CPR paper, Toxic Floodwaters: Public Health Risks and Vulnerability to Chemical Spills Triggered by Extreme Weather, discusses the impacts of climate change on flooding and chemical spills, the public health risks associated with these events, and vulnerabilities for communities already grappling with chronic exposure to air and water pollution. The paper builds on a report published by my colleague, David Flores, and CPR Member Scholar Noah Sachs, in 2019. Focusing on the James River watershed, their analysis found that 1,000 industrial facilities housing toxic and hazardous facilities in the region are in the most socially vulnerable communities and are at risk of flooding from storm surges or sea level rise. Nearly half a million Virginians live in these communities.
Since it is difficult to control the effects of extreme weather-related chemical spills, experts recommend a preventative approach to protect public health. Unfortunately, neither the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) nor the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) require industrial facilities to comprehensively address extreme weather and flood risks in pollution prevention and management programs. Furthermore, few states address flood risks in the permitting of industrial facilities.
Whether we like it or not, climate change is upon us. Events of the last decade alone have shown that our existing infrastructure and control measures are inadequate against intensifying storms. In the paper, I recommend several approaches that can ensure better oversight and permitting of industrial facilities:
Showing 2,819 results
Darya Minovi | June 9, 2020
June 1 marked the start of hurricane season for the Atlantic Basin. While not welcome, tropical storms, strong winds, and storm surges are an inevitable fact of life for many residents of the Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf Coast. As a new paper from the Center for Progressive Reform explains, with those storms can come preventable toxic flooding with public health consequences that are difficult to predict or control.
Michael C. Duff | June 3, 2020
For decades, commentators have complained about how long it can take for workers attempting to unionize to simply get an election in which workers make an up-or-down decision on whether to form a union. For many years, employers were able to raise hyper-formalistic legal arguments that took so long to resolve that the employees initially interested in forming a union had often moved on to other employment. In far too many cases, employers also unlawfully coerce workers during the delay, and those workers eventually withdraw their support for the union. After much internal wrangling, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) enacted a series of new election procedures in 2014, but after Donald Trump took office, the Board published a “Request for Information” in December 2017 that implicitly questioned the continuing need for, and efficacy of, a rule that was little more than two years old.
Katlyn Schmitt | June 2, 2020
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court finally weighed in with an answer to a longstanding question about what kinds of pollution discharges rise to the level of a "point source" and require a permit under the Clean Water Act. The Court dipped its toes into some muddied waters, as this question has been the subject of a range of decisions in the lower courts for decades, with little consensus. Panelists on the Center for Progressive Reform's May 28 clean water webinar examined the Supreme Court's opinion and its possible implications for water quality protections.
James Goodwin | June 1, 2020
It is now beyond debate – or at least it should be – that we, the people of the United States, have been failed by the Trump administration and its conservative apologists in Congress in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They failed to put in place mechanisms for systematic testing and contact tracing. They failed to coordinate the efficient acquisition of essential medical equipment such as ventilators and personal protective equipment. They failed to provide for an orderly phase-down of non-essential economic activity. They failed to establish clear, enforceable safety standards protect consumers, workers, and their families engaged in essential economic activity. This stopped being a public health crisis a long time ago. The pandemic is now more fairly characterized as a crisis of government. Fortunately, our democracy has a crucial safety valve that stands ever ready to kick in when our representatives fail to protect us: the civil courts.
Alice Kaswan, Amy Sinden, Brian Gumm, Catherine Jones, Darya Minovi, David Flores, James Goodwin, Joel A. Mintz, Katie Tracy, Katlyn Schmitt, Matt Shudtz, Matthew Freeman, Robert L. Glicksman, Robert Verchick, Sidney A. Shapiro, Thomas McGarity | June 1, 2020
Staff and Board members of the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) denounce the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on Memorial Day. We stand with the peaceful protestors calling for radical, systemic reforms to root out racism from our society and all levels of our governing institutions and the policies they administer. CPR Member Scholars and staff are dedicated to listening to and working alongside Black communities and non-Black people of color to call out racism and injustice and demand immediate and long-lasting change. Racism and bigotry cannot continue in the United States if our nation is to live up to its creed of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.
Dave Owen, Katlyn Schmitt | May 28, 2020
Sometime soon, EPA is expected to release its final rule limiting state and tribal authority to conduct water quality certifications under section 401 of the Clean Water Act. A water quality certification is the most important tool states have to ensure that any federally permitted project complies with state water quality protections.
Samuel Boden | May 27, 2020
On May 19, the National Weather Service advised people living near the Tittabawassee River in Michigan to seek higher ground immediately. The region was in the midst of what meteorologists were calling a “500-year-flood,” resulting in a catastrophic failure of the Edenville Dam. Despite years of warnings from regulators that the dam could rupture, its owners failed to make changes to reinforce the structure and increase spillway capacity. By the next day, the river had risen to a record-high 34.4 feet in the city of Midland.
Michael C. Duff | May 21, 2020
A recent, interesting lawsuit filed against McDonald's, in Cook County, Illinois, suffers from few of the deficiencies that I have identified in prior postings about public nuisance cases related to COVID-19. The named employee-plaintiffs allege "negligence" in what might look at first blush like a drop-dead workers' compensation case. This time, however, there is a wrinkle.
Darya Minovi, James Goodwin | May 20, 2020
Earlier this week, we submitted a public comment to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), criticizing the agency's March 2020 supplemental proposal for its “censored science" rulemaking. This rule, among other things, would require the public release of underlying data for studies considered in regulatory decision-making, and thus might prevent the agency from relying on such seminal public health research as Harvard’s Six Cities study, which have formed the backbone of many of the EPA’s regulations, simply because they rely on confidential data.