Safe Chemicals and Facilities
There are over 12,000 extremely hazardous chemical facilities across the nation.
Pam Nixon grew up in the area around Charleston, WV known as Chemical Valley, where the Elk and Kanawha Rivers are lined with plants owned by chemical industry giants Union Carbide, Dow, DuPont, Monsanto, Bayer, and others. Many times during her 65 years of living there, she's had to shelter in place—tape up windows and huddle inside her home—when nearby plants experienced accidental explosions or chemical leaks.
In 2008, an explosion at a Bayer CropScience plant killed two people and injured eight more. In 2010, a series of incidents at a DuPont plant included the release of highly toxic phosgene (used during World War I as a chemical weapon). Then in January 2014, a chemical storage tank at Freedom Industries leaked 10,000 gallons of toxic MCHM into the Elk River, contaminating drinking water for 300,000 people in nine counties, and costing the local economy $19 million a day for each day drinking water was deemed unsafe.
Pam and her organization, People Concerned About Chemical Safety, are working locally to prevent chemical disasters and protect their drinking water from toxic spills. She also helps lead Coming Clean’s campaigns to move hazardous facilities across the country toward inherently safer chemicals and processes.
Our research and organizing have documented the extreme hazards faced by over 124 million people across the country who live within chemical disaster vulnerability zones, and the millions more who experience heightened risk of health problems because of daily air pollution or whose drinking water could be poisoned by a chemical spill at any time. We’ve shown how these hazards don’t threaten everyone equally: people of color and low-income people are much more likely to live near hazardous chemical facilities than the general population.
"No one deserves to live under these conditions. We aren’t a sacrifice zone, and we deserve the same protections that wealthier and more affluent communities in America get.”
Coming Clean programs working toward safer chemical facilities:
- Chemical Disaster Prevention Program
- Clean Energy and Climate Solutions
- The Environmental Justice Health Alliance
Related resources and reports from Coming Clean:
- Life at the Fenceline: Understanding Cumulative Health Hazards in Environmental Justice Communities
- Environmental Justice for Delaware: Mitigating Toxic Pollution in New Castle County Communities
- Who's in Danger: Race, Poverty, and Chemical Disasters
- When the Wind Blows: Tracking Toxic Chemicals in Gas Fields and Local Communities
- Warning Signs: Toxic Air Pollution Identified at Oil and Gas Sites
Related News
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March 21, 2019
New York, N.Y. – The Environmental Justice Health Alliance, Clean Water Action, and Natural Resources Defense Council today filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency for its failure to pass regulations requiring the most dangerous chemical facilities to develop plans to prevent and respond to worst-case scenario spills of hazardous substances, including spills triggered by natural disasters that put people’s health at risk. Congress mandated such regulations in 1990 – but more than 25 years later, EPA has failed to act. Read More
Release: Victory for Environmental Justice Communities as Court Orders Disclosure of Emissions from Chemical Facility Incidents
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It took nearly a month after a toxic gas leak shut down the Delaware Memorial Bridge on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year for company and state officials to shed some light on what went wrong.
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Blog: Fighting for Chemical Security - Raising Our Voices for Health & Justice for People at the Fenceline
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Imagine being woken up early in the morning by a siren blaring loudly. You turn on the news to learn that there is a massive fire at the oil refinery in town. Residents are instructed to “shelter in place,” so you make sure all the windows are closed, but you know there is not much more you can do. You realize that your 8-year-old child is having a very hard time breathing, so you head to the hospital as soon as you can. It turns out that sulfuric acid and nitrogen dioxide gases were released from the refinery because of the fire. Read More
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Press Release: Dollar Store Chains Lag on Toxic Chemicals, while 21 Retailers Make Progress to Protect Consumers
November 14, 2018
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Report: Dollar Stores Score Failing Grades for Second Year
November 14, 2018
Just before the holiday shopping season, the Campaign for Healthier Solutions and the Mind the Store Campaign released an annual report card on retailer’s actions to protect customers from toxic chemicals in consumer products. While several retailers have shown substantial leadership on toxic chemical policies and improved their grades over last year, dollar stores continue to earn grades well below the curve. Read More
Informe: Cadenas de Tiendas de Dólar Se Quedan Atrás en Cuanto a Sustancias Químicas Peligrosas, Mientras que 21 Comercios Minoristas Muestran Avances para Proteger a Consumidores
November 14, 2018
LOS ANGELES, CA — Un informe publicado el día de hoy revela que las grandes empresas de minoristas están logrando avances lentos pero significativos en cuanto a la mejora de seguridad química en los productos, alimentos y empaques que venden, pero casi la mitad de los que se calificaron — incluyendo la cadena de tiendas de descuento 99 Cents Only — han fracasado en llevar a cabo medidas públicas para ayudar a eliminar sustancias químicas de los productos que surten. La tercera boleta anual ¿Quién está Cuidando la Tienda? Una Boleta de Calificaciones sobre las Medidas de Comercios para Eliminar Sustancias Químicas Tóxicas (Who’s Minding the Store? A Report Card on Retailer Actions to Eliminate Toxic Chemicals) evaluó y calificó a las políticas de sustancias químicas y las prácticas de los 40 comercios de minoristas más grandes de norte américa, incluyendo supermercados y cadenas de comida rápida, como parte de la campaña de Cuida la Tienda de Sustancias Químicas más Seguras de Familias Sanas (Safer Chemicals Healthy Families’ Mind the Store) y la Campaña para Soluciones Saludables (Campaign for Healthier Solutions). Read More
2013 Explosion and Chemical Disaster in West, Texas