Cuyahoga County Chemical Safety
Inherently Safer Chemical Processes
Chemical Facility Security
Chemical Accidents
Rail Safety and Security
Links to More Information on Chemical Safety and Security

Cuyahoga County Chemical Safety

• In Cuyahoga County (Cleveland, Ohio), almost three hundred facilities have dangerous chemicals on site in sufficient quantity that an accidental release could send a toxic cloud into the community, in some cases traveling several miles.
• Such a release has the potential to cause deaths, serious injuries and major environmental pollution.
• For several years, EHW has been working with the Cuyahoga County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) to improve emergency response planning and to reduce the risk and consequences of major chemical accidents.
• Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPC) are appointed by the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) to identify chemical hazards, plan for emergencies, convey public information, and include all citizens.
  •  LEPC Report Card - Evaluate your LEPC.

Inherently Safer Chemical Processes

• The traditional approach to chemical process safety is to add control, containment and mitigation layers to an inherently dangerous process. The Inherent Safety approach looks for ways to make the process less dangerous.
• Chemical Hazard Reduction Hierarchy: With inhtent safety at the top, a strategy for improved chemcial safety.
• Illustrations of inherent safety concepts [Safe Hometowns Guide]
• Risk Reduction Awards [Cuyahoga County/Cleveland LEPCs]
• Elimination of Chlorine from Greater Cleveland Water Treatment Facilities
• Inherent Safety Articles:
  • Inherent Security: Protecting Process Plants Against Threats, Paul Baybutt, Primatech, Inc.
  • Challenges in Implementing Inherent Safety Principles in New and Existing Chemical Processes White Paper, Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, Texas A & M University
  • Chemical Process Safety Publications, Dennis Hendershot, Rohm & Haas Company

Chemical Facility Security

• "Chemical Plants, Still Unprotected" New York Times, editorial, September 25, 2006:

  "Congress still has done nothing to protect Americans from a terrorist attack on chemical plants. Republican leaders want to give the impression that that has changed. But voters should not fall for the spin. If the leadership goes through with the strategy it seems to have adopted last week to secure these highly vulnerable targets, national security will be the loser.

The federal government is spending extraordinary amounts of money and time protecting air travel from terrorist attacks. But Congress has not yet passed a law to secure the nation’s chemical plants, even though an attack on just one plant could kill or injure as many as 100,000 people. The sticking point has been the chemical industry, a heavy contributor to political campaigns, which does not want to pay the cost of reasonable safety measures.... (full text)

• "Backroom Deal on Chemical Security Leaves Communities Vulnerable

  Earlier this week, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) attached federal chemical security language to a must-pass bill that funds the Dept. of Homeland Security.  The King-Collins provision, among other things, does not require industries to consider using safer chemicals, exempts hundreds of facilities with massive vulnerability zones, and retreats from stronger, bipartisan bills pending in both the House and the Senate. Democrats strongly opposed the provision.  Rep. Bennie Thomson (D-MS), ranking member on the Homeland Security Committee stated, "After a year of bipartisan negotiations to craft a bill that would truly secure our nation's chemical facilities, the American people will be saddled with another special interest bill, crafted in typical Republican fashion, that will do little to improve security at our nation's chemical plants." Right-to-Know eUpdate, September 2006. Links from Working Group on Right-to-Know:

  • Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) Press Release: "House Democrats Slam Republican-Industry Backroom Deals"
  • Coalition Letter Supporting Stronger Chemical Security Bills
  • Chemical Security Fact Sheets and Report

• Remarks by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff at the National Chemical Security Forum -American Chemistry Council, March 21, 2006: " Now, the chemical sector certainly stands as one of the principle areas of infrastructure about which we have to be concerned.  If you look back at the whole history of the way al Qaeda has conducted its operations, where possible, they have always tried to leverage our own technology against ourselves.  They've turned jets, commercial jets, into weapons.  They've tried to use our own chemicals and our own products as means of exploding devices against us.  And obviously, one of the areas we have to be concerned about are parts of our infrastructure which house chemicals which could, if properly ignited, create a huge amount of havoc in a populated area -- whether it be because of a large explosion or whether it's because of toxic inhalation....."

• "Since September 11, 2001, the nation has been on alert about the vulnerability of chemical facilities. And while the Bush Administration claims that homeland security is a priority, time after time, it has opted to do nothing dramatic to improve the security of U.S. chemical facilities. All along, it has followed the wishes of the U.S. chemical industry - at our peril." Open to Attack [Progressive Magazine]

• "... why does the federal government have mandatory regulations requiring grandmothers to take off their orthopedic shoes before they can get through airport security, and yet our whole system of keeping millions of people safe from terrorism targeted at chemical plants is totally voluntary?"  The War for Chemical Plant Safety [Confined Space]

• The Safe Hometowns Guide: How to do a Community Reassessment of Chemical Site Safety and Security after September 11, 2001. Executive Summary (pdf, 6pgs)

• The Cuyahoga County LEPC distributed a set of site security considerations to the facilities in the county that handle extremely hazardous substances. 

• CBS 60 Minutes segment, "US Plants: Open to Terrorists" (6/13/04) discusses the "real and credible" threat that terrorists could target any of the 15,000 facilities nationwide that produce or use deadly chemicals.

• The Violence Policy Center report, Sitting Ducks, reveals the threat to the chemicaland refinery industry from 50 caliber sniper rifles.

Chemical Accidents

• US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is an independent federal agency whose mission is to prevent industrial chemical accidents and save lives.
• PACE International Health and Safety Department provides lessons gained from other incident investigations.
• Chemical Emergency Prevention and Preparedness - This EPA site provides tools, resources and information for chemical accident prevention and preparedness.
• Risk Management Solutions' (RMS) Top Ten Greatest Risks (pdf, see pgs. 42-43)
• New RMS Study Assesses Risk From Catastrophic Events

Rail Safety and Security

• Corporate Profit vs. Public Safety,Editorial, New York Times, June 20, 2005: "One of the first steps any sane person would take to guard against terrorism is to stop rail tankers filled with deadly chemicals from passing within a few blocks of the Capitol..... The Washington City Council recently did just that.... But CSX, the railroad giant, got a federal court to block the law from taking effect. Other cities are considering following Washington's lead, as well they should. But city-by-city legislation will not solve this problem....Senator Biden's bill, though not perfect, would go a long way toward making the nation safer. It would require the Department of Homeland Security to develop a list of extremely hazardous materials, and to designate "high-threat corridors" that because of dense population, strategic importance or other factors are particularly likely to be terrorist targets. In most cases, railroads would be required to reroute shipments containing extremely hazardous materials along safer paths....

• "These Chemicals Are So Deadly" -Hazardous material transported by rail is vulnerable to attack.Here's what to do, by Any Barrett, Business Week, March 20, 2006: "... PERMIT LIMITED REROUTING Last year city council members in Washington pushed through a measure forcing the railroad CSX Corp. to divert shipments of hazardous materials that would otherwise run near the Capitol to less populated areas. CSX and the federal government are now fighting the ordinance in court. Some experts contend that the District of Columbia lacks authority to interfere with interstate commerce. That has not stopped Baltimore, Chicago, and Cleveland from proposing similar measures.
  
  The railroads argue that changing the routes could significantly increase the amount of time hazardous cargo is on the tracks while sending the material out on less suitable and less safe rails. Theodore S. Glickman, a professor at George Washington University, says that in some cases rerouting may be safer, but that railroads resist because they might have to hand off cargo to competitors. The solution, says Glickman, is to engage a neutral body to rule on a case-by-case basis."
  
• Cities move to defend against railroad attacks - At least five may ban tanker cars with hazardous chemicals. Industry and federal officials disapprove, by Alexandra Marks, The Christian Science Monitor, April 7, 2006: "...So Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Chicago have proposed ordinances requiring that such deadly chemicals be rerouted around them unless they're destined for the cities themselves. The fact that the rail industry, with federal support, has sued the District of Columbia over its law has not deterred them...."

• Washington, DC draft bill to prohibit large shipments of certain extremely dangerous materials through or near the National Mall in order to reduce the risk of attacks by terrorists. Testimony by Fred Millar.
• WMD in Our Own Backyard - Trains loaded with toxic chemicals put millions at risk (LA Times.com 1/04).

More Information on Chemical Safety and Security

New Links

• Remarks by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff at the National Chemical Security Forum, May 21, 2006
• Confined Space - Homeland Security To Turn Chemical Plant Security Over To Industry
• Clean Production Action

Recommended Books and Periodicals

More Chemical Safety and Security Links

Links to EHW's Activities Related to Chemical Safety and Security