Will rmp changes Make My community safer?
In 1984 an enormous release of methyl isocyanide gas originated from the Union Carbide Pesticide Plant in Bhopal, India which led to the death of almost 4,000 and injured tens of thousands of people. Because this incident highlighted a global concern related to toxic chemical storage, releases, and emergency response, it led to the US Congress passing the initial Emergency Planning, and Community Right-to-Know law under the 1986 Superfund reauthorization, and 10 years later the US EPA promulgated the Risk Management Program (RMP) rule on accidental release prevention for facilities storing large quantities of highly hazardous flammable and toxic chemicals.
Through regulation from RMP and OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) program and industries investment, accident rates of highly hazardous chemicals have dramatically reduced over time, where 97% of facilities had no reportable accidents, however in spite of this success, America was continually reminded of similar events like the Anthrax event at the US Capitol (2001), the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (2010), and the West Texas Explosion and Fertilizer Fire (2013).
EPA subsequently identified the impacts of highly hazardous chemicals upon our communities involving dozens of deaths, thousands of injuries, and hundreds of millions of US Dollars lost in damages over time, with many of these catastrophic incidents occurring predominately in minority communities and mostly from targeted industries with complex processes.
EPA historically based the reasonableness of regulation only the volume and toxicity of the chemicals involved, not accounting for factors such as location, climate, and operating conditions; all this has changed in the new rule, and facilities will have to comply, update, and resubmit their RMP plans by May, 2028. To learn more about the changes in the new rule, check out our digital resource or contact us for more information.
Source(s):
EPA Regulatory Impact Analysis. Final Rule: Safer Communities by Chemical Accident Prevention
