Feature story - November 8, 2004
Tight security measures go into place during special events in Washington. These measures often include a temporary prohibition on the transport of hazardous chemicals through Capitol Hill. Why are these chemical shipments diverted only during 'VIP' events, while D.C. residents remain at risk on a daily basis?
Furthermore, the Wall
Street Journal recently featured a front-page exposé of the
vulnerability of hazardous chemical shipments traveling on the
nation's rail system.
The dangers of chemical facilities
Chemical facilities are found all over the United States. These
facilities are required to submit worst-case scenarios to the
Environmental Protection Agency, outlining potential consequences
of an attack or accident. There are 112 facilities in the United
States that could threaten a million or more people in the event of
an attack or accident. According to the Brookings Institute, U.S.
chemical plants represent the third highest risk of fatalities from
possible terrorist attacks.
Maybe you do not live near one of these facilities. Think you
are safe? Think again. Every day, freight trains carry tons of
extremely toxic chemicals through our nation's most populated
cities.
So how do we protect ourselves?
The only true safeguard against an attack or accident, is to
eliminate these toxic chemicals by switching to safer alternatives.
That is what the Senate Environment Committee had in mind when they
unanimously adopted Senator Corzine's (D-NJ) chemical security bill
(S. 157) in July 2002. However, in October 2003, the same committee
replaced Corzine's bill with S. 994, which simply grandfathers the
chemical industry's voluntary do-nothing programs.
Until the chemical industry switches to safer alternatives,
Greenpeace is calling on the federal government to initiate
preventive measures at chemical facilities and divert dangerous
shipments away from our metropolitan areas. The Washington, D.C.
City Council is now considering such a bill (B15-0525) to restrict
shipments of hazardous materials through the capital. If this
legislation is passed, it will serve as a model for the rest of the
country.
A senior scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory recently
warned the D.C. City Council that an attack could put more than
100,000 people at risk within 15 to 30 minutes causing "exposed
people to die at the rate of 100 per second."
The DOT sponsored a National Risk Assessment for Selected
Hazardous Materials Transportation. In it, the top 150 hazardous
materials transported by rail are listed as well as the admission
that "...the failure to identify and evaluate opportunities to
reduce the risks from these types of relatively rare accidents
could ultimately lead to thousands of fatalities, injuries and
evacuations."
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