At the end of August, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a draft rule to better protect people who live near industrial facilities with hazardous chemicals on site. The rule would strengthen EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP), which regulates more than 12,000 facilities in the United States that store, use, and distribute significant amounts of dangerous chemicals.
The facilities covered under this rule include a wide array of toxic producers ― including oil refineries, petroleum and coal manufacturing plants, chemical manufacturing plants, and other types of chemical wholesale and storage sectors.
Roughly a third of these facilities are at risk of climate-driven disasters like flooding, wildfires, storm surge, and sea level rise. Accidental chemical releases from RMP-covered facilities have injured, displaced, and even killed hundreds of thousands of facility workers or residents who live nearby ― who are disproportionately Black, Latino, and/or low-wealth.
In 2021, the Center for Progressive Reform co-authored a policy brief with Earthjustice and the Union of Concerned Scientists recommending a number of key regulatory changes to the RMP. While the draft RMP rule adopted some of our recommendations, there’s tremendous potential for improvement. Ensuring an adequate Risk Management Program rule is not only essential to addressing the very real impacts of climate change at these facilities, but also to protecting vulnerable communities who are facing environmental injustices.
Draft Rule Improves Key Protections
In alignment with our brief’s recommendations, the draft rule:
Draft Rule Falls Short in Significant Ways
EPA should amend the draft rule to expand coverage of RMP regulations to certain facilities in areas exposed to a heightened risk of wildfires, flooding, storm surge, or coastal flooding, as well as to more substances (e.g. ammonium nitrate) and processes.
The rule should also require facilities to:
The Need for Stronger Chemical Facility Rules
EPA references a number of chemical disasters, among other reasons, as the impetus for the new draft rule. One of these incidents includes the massive explosion and resulting fire that occurred at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refinery on the banks of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia in 2019. The disaster released more than 5,000 pounds of deadly hydrofluoric acid, along with hazardous quantities of cancer-causing benzene. Only five minor injuries were reported as a result of this accident; however, there were likely many other negative health impacts felt by community members that were not reported. Philadelphia Energy Solutions shut down the refinery and filed for bankruptcy shortly after the incident. Approximately 1,000 workers lost their jobs as a result.
While the refinery closed a little over three years ago, the 1,300-acre complex is still being dismantled and continues to leak unsafe levels of benzene (at least two to three times the federal threshold in some reports) in the process. According to a tool developed by the Drexel Urban Health Collaborative that measures cancer risks and outcomes in Philadelphia neighborhoods, the two neighborhoods closest to the oil refinery have a higher number of cancer cases relative to the rest of the city.
The disaster exemplifies the need for stronger RMP regulations, including a requirement that facilities that use, store, or produce hazardous chemicals shift to recognized safer alternatives. Stronger regulations are essential to protect the health and livelihoods of the communities surrounding these facilities ― and may even be a matter of life or death for some workers and nearby residents.
Make Your Voice Heard
The EPA is soliciting public comments on the draft rule through October 31, 2022. Members of the public can also register to attend one of three virtual public hearings on the rule, which the agency is holding on September 26, 27, and 28.
Stay tuned to our blog, follow us on social media, and subscribe to our email list for more information and developments on the rule as they become available.
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Katlyn Schmitt | September 12, 2022
At the end of August, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a draft rule to better protect people who live near industrial facilities with hazardous chemicals on site. The rule would strengthen EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP), which regulates more than 12,000 facilities in the United States that store, use, and distribute significant amounts of dangerous chemicals.
Daniel Farber | September 9, 2022
States have played a critical role in U.S. climate policy. The federal government is now supporting that role with federal funding for states. In the meantime, a number of states have moved a step further in plans to phase out gas and diesel vehicles. Two key states have ramped up their plans for carbon neutrality, while offshore wind made a big step forward in the Midwest.
Sophie Loeb | September 8, 2022
The Center for Progressive Reform recently launched the Campaign for Energy Justice to ensure that North Carolina’s transition to a clean energy economy serves all North Carolinians regardless of wealth or background. The campaign puts equity at the center of the state’s transition to clean sources of energy like wind and solar power. Unfortunately, a plan submitted to the North Carolina Utility Commission (NCUC) by Duke Energy to reduce carbon emissions fails to take equity into account.
Sophie Loeb | September 8, 2022
In the spring of 2022, Duke Energy submitted a Carbon Plan to help North Carolina achieve goals laid out in recently enacted laws to curb climate change. The plan ostensibly aims to achieve the state's climate goals to curb carbon emissions. Under this plan, however, low-wealth North Carolinians, who are disproportionately people of color, risk losing access to reliable, affordable electricity.
Clare Henry | September 7, 2022
From family farmers to biofuel investors, over 900 people and advocacy groups submitted comments on California’s draft plan for achieving carbon neutrality by 2045. In their comments, environmental advocates and justice groups expressed three major concerns with the state’s draft “scoping” plan. First, the plan fails to recognize the urgency of transitioning to a clean energy economy. Second, it relies too heavily on unproven technology. And third, it fails to specify concrete implementation measures.
David Hunter, Shade Streeter, William Snape, III | September 1, 2022
Our hemisphere’s shared natural heritage is threatened. The Convention on Nature Protection and Wild Life Preservation is a low-risk, high-reward pathway for the Biden administration to strengthen our strategic relationships in the hemisphere.
Grace DuBois | August 31, 2022
Climate change poses a serious threat to occupational health and safety. Workers — especially low-income workers and those who work outdoors — are particularly vulnerable to rising temperatures and increasingly frequent extreme weather and other climate-related disasters.
Daniel Farber | August 19, 2022
Production and combustion of fossil fuels impose enormous costs on society, which the industry doesn't pay for. I want to talk about some options for using the tax system to change that.
Alexandra Rogan, James Goodwin | August 18, 2022
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will subsidize our nation's clean energy revolution and have a positive impact on climate-driven economics, as noted in Part I of this series. That said, the IRA isn't flawless. Notably, it includes several subsidies for fossil fuels, which will be counterproductive as our nation works toward its climate goals. Worse still, not all "carrots" for clean energy technologies are good, and the IRA includes a potentially bad one. Specifically, the IRA risks subsidizing the clean energy transition through perpetuating environmental injustice in how we obtain and use energy to fuel our economy.