Tucked away in industrial parks, towering along railways and waterfronts, and on pallets outside neighborhood home improvement and agricultural supply stores, tanks containing hazardous chemicals are everywhere in the landscape. When it comes to public protections for our health and safety, however, these unregulated chemical storage facilities are missing from public policy.
In this January 13 webinar, public health and environmental policy experts answered questions about the threat these tanks pose and offered solutions to this longstanding problem. Our recent report on unregulated aboveground chemical storage served as a springboard for the discussion.
The panelists:
- Jared Knicley is a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
- Darya Minovi is a policy analyst at the Center for Progressive Reform and a co-author of Tanks for Nothing: The Decades-Long Failure to Protect the Public from Hazardous Chemical Spills.
- Noah Sachs is a professor of law at University of Richmond and a Center for Progressive Reform Member Scholar.
Darya also moderated the discussion.
View the webinar slide presentation.
Additional resources:
- Center for Progressive Reform report: Tanks for Nothing: The Decades-Long Failure to Protect the Public from Hazardous Chemical Spills
- CPRBlog posts: "States Should Act to Protect People and Our Environment from Unregulated Chemical Tanks" and "Aboveground Chemical Storage Tanks Threaten Our Communities. It’s Time for EPA and States to Act."
- NRDC blog post: "Court Requires EPA to Protect Communities Against Worst-Case Chemical Spills"
- 2018 U.S. EPA "do-nothing" aboveground storage tank rule proposal: Public comments from environmental justice, public health, and environmental organizations
- 2022 Virginia legislation: Aboveground Storage Tanks; Hazardous Substance Aboveground Storage Tank Fund; Civil Penalties (HB 899)
Watch the webinar recording below, or view on CPR's YouTube channel.
