Across the United States, thousands of chemical plants, manufacturers, water utilities and other facilities store and use extremely hazardous substances that could injure or kill workers and residents of nearby communities.
Nationwide, approximately 450 of these facilities each put more than 100,000 people in harm’s way. Yet more than six years after the September 11 attacks, the federal government has yet to take meaningful action to reduce the risk to American workers and communities from a catastrophic accident or attack at one of these facilities.
That could change, though, if Congress takes action on new legislation. In February, House Homeland Security Chair Bennie Thompson (Miss.) and Transportation Security Subcommittee Chair Sheila Jackson-Lee (Texas) introduced the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2008. As marked up in the subcommittee, the bill contains language calling for the use of safer chemicals and processes, or reduction of the amounts of high-hazard chemicals stored on site at chemical plants.
U.S. PIRG is working with our environmental and labor coalition partners to convince key committee members, such as Vice-Chair Loretta Sanchez (Calif.), to further strengthen the bill to truly protect New Mexicans.
