Protect Lake Michigan News

Illinois Leads Nation for the Number of Facilities Storing Extremely High Quantities of Hazardous Chemicals

As the new home of Illinois PIRG's environmental work, Environment Illinois can be contacted with any questions regarding this news release.   

A coalition of citizen groups—the Safe Hometowns Initiative—today said that thousands remain at risk from potential terrorist attacks on chemical facilities in Illinois and millions of Americans remain at risk nationwide. The Illinois PIRG Education Fund and Citizen Action/Illinois called for reducing chemical hazards through local community efforts and through federal policy changes to require companies to consider "inherently safer" technologies and materials, which could reduce, and in many cases eliminate the possibility of a significant chemical release. They also released two groundbreaking documents: the Safe Hometowns Guide, a citizens' guide to reducing chemical hazards in communities, and Protecting Our Hometowns, a report released by the Illinois PIRG Education Fund that assesses chemical hazards state by state and makes the case for federal policy changes.

The report cites U.S. EPA documents showing that a chemical release at any one of 125 facilities nationwide could put at least one million people at risk; some 3,000 facilities each put 10,000 people's safety at risk. Because the U.S. EPA has cut off access to public right-to-know records, the coalition could not say how many of these facilities are in Illinois, but the report notes that Illinois leads the nation with 628 facilities storing at least 100,000 pounds of a U.S.EPA-listed "extremely hazardous chemical." According to industry estimates, if the chlorine from even one tank car were released or blown up, the toxic gas could travel two miles in ten minutes and remain lethal as far away as 20 miles.

"The bad news is that to date, the industry has taken only the inadequate step of providing voluntary site security guidelines to its facilities, meaning more guards and higher fences," said Brian Metcalf, Environmental Associate for the Illinois PIRG Education Fund. "These may be useless against terrorists known to use passenger planes and truck bombs. The good news is that reducing chemical hazards can make terrorist-induced chemical releases impossible."

"We know that hazards can be reduced through the use of inherently safer materials and processes," said Ashley Collins, Environmental Program Associate for Citizen Action/Illinois. "Thousands of people have been protected from chemical explosions or leaks when facilities across the country have eliminated or reduced the use of hazardous materials. With a combination of community involvement and federal policy changes, we can protect people here in Illinois."

The Safe Hometowns Guide explains how citizens can use processes established to prepare for accidental releases at plants to make their communities safer in the event of a criminal release. Among other examples, the guide cites changes in hundreds of New Jersey water treatment facilities and a Washington, D.C. sewage treatment plant that all switched from toxic chlorine gas to a less hazardous alternative. The Washington plant made the move within weeks of September 11 to eliminate the previously-real possibility of a toxic chlorine cloud spreading across the nation's capital.

The groups also called for requirements for companies that manufacture, use, or store hazardous chemicals to look for ways to make processes inherently safer by reducing chemical quantities, switching to safer chemicals, or storing chemicals under safer conditions, starting with the facilities that pose the greatest risk.

"For years we've been focused on responding to chemical releases, rather than preventing them," said Dr. Peter Orris MD, MPH, Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health. "We need to focus on up front measures to prevent dangerous chemicals from harming our communities. The best way to achieve safety in communities is for facilities to replace dangerous chemicals with safe alternatives and industrial facilities owe it to their communities to find nontoxic ways of doing business."

"For years we've been teaching the importance of fire prevention," said Evanston Fire Marshal Alan Berkowsky. "Well the same applies for chemical facilities. You can't predict where terrorists will hit next, but we are taking proactive measures to prevent the possibility of an attack and to minimize the impact."