Many of New Jersey’s major population centers are neighbored by large industrial facilities that pose serious risks of catastrophic chemical releases or explosions, whether by accident or terrorist attack.
Most of these plants could reduce their risk by switching to safer alternatives to their most dangerous chemicals.
In August, NJPIRG released “Pulp Fiction,” a report looking at the danger posed by pulp and paper mills’ use of chlorine gas to bleach paper. At the start of this year, one New Jersey mill—Schweitzer Mauduit—was using and storing so much chlorine gas on site that 1.1 million people were at risk. Shortly before the report’s release, Schweitzer Mauduit reported that it had eliminated the threat to everyone except workers by ensuring that only a very small quantity of the toxic gas would be on hand at any time.
Improving our chemical security has been one of the state’s top priorities, and new regulations are in the works to reduce the risks. NJPIRG has been working with the New Jersey Work Environment Council and other groups to ensure that the rules the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) finalizes this fall reduce the risk of chemical catastrophe. The rules would require facilities to analyze their operations in order to investigate safer alternatives for the most dangerous chemicals. Then, these companies would calculate the feasibility of using the safer chemicals.
What’s missing from these rules, and what we’re pushing for, is a requirement that all feasible safety improvements be made. To make our case, we have testified at a DEP hearing, submitted comments to the rulemaking, and participated in a follow-up meeting with DEP staff. More.
