- A multistate coalition of 20 AGs and the County Attorney of Harris County, Texas, issued comments on the EPA’s proposed rule titled “Safer Communities by Chemical Accident Prevention.” The proposed rule would strengthen the EPA’s RISK Management Program (RMP) regulations relating to chemical accidents under the Clean Air Act.
- In their comments, the AGs expressed their support for the proposed rule and proposed additional safeguards that they want the EPA to consider, highlighting recent chemical accidents in their states as evidence that the RMP regulations needed to be improved “to provide additional protection to human health and the environment from chemical hazards.” They also encouraged the EPA to consider the environmental justice issues implicated in the rulemaking, including the need to mitigate the effect of chemical accidents on the underserved communities.
- The AGs supported reinstating regulations that would, among other things, require RMP-regulated facilities to expand the scope of their hazard review to include natural hazards and hazards from power loss, as well as requiring certain subsets of facilities, like those manufacturing petroleum and coal, to analyze the feasibility of safer technologies or safer designs. The AGs also suggested additional enhancements to the EPA’s proposed modifications to existing emergency response requirements.