AFL-CIO - Communications Workers of America (CWA) - International Brotherhood of Teamsters International Chemical Workers Union Council (ICWUC) - Service Employees International Union (SEIU) United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) - Blue Green Alliance - Breast Cancer Fund United Automobile Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union (USW) - American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Beyond Pesticides - Center for Environmental Health - Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC) Center for Health, Environment & Justice - Center for International Environmental Law Citizens' Environmental Coalition - Clean Water Action - Ecology Center - Environment America Environmental Defense Fund - Environmental Health Fund - Environmental Health Strategy Center Friends of the Earth - Greenpeace - Health Care Without Harm - Healthy Child, Healthy World League of Conservation Voters - OMB Watch - Public Citizen - Sierra Club Physicians for Social Responsibility - U.S. Public Interest Research Group - Kristen Breitweiser Advocates for Environmental Human Rights - Air Alliance Houston - Alaska Community Action on Toxics Alliance@IBM (CWA 1701) - Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments - Earth Day Coalition Citizens for Sanity.com, Inc. - Clean and Healthy New York - Clean Production Action - Environment Texas Deep South Center for Environmental Justice - Empire State Consumer Project - Indiana Toxics Action Global Community Monitor - Farmworkers Association of Florida - Green Science Policy Institute Healthy Building Network - Investor Environmental Health Network - Kentucky Environmental Foundation Los Jardines Institute (The Garden Institute) - Mossville Environmental Action Now - NJ PIRG National Bucket Brigade Coalition - National Refinery Reform Campaign - NYPIRG New Jersey Work Environment Council - Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance - Public Citizen, Texas Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility - Science and Environmental Health Network - Second Look Just Transition Alliance - T.E.J.A.S - VPIRG - Western Broome Environmental Stakeholders Coalition Women's Health and Environmental Network - Women's Voices for the Earth - Sciencecorps Clean Air Coalition of Western New York - Basel Action Network - New Jersey Environmental Federation The Praxis Project - GreenFaith - ECHO Ecological Health Organization - POWER Center for Community Change - National Domestic Workers Alliance - Oregon Environmental Council Concerned Citizens of Wagon Mound and Mora County - Southwest Workers Union - Jobs with Justice Clean Water Network - Physicians for Social Responsibility, Los Angeles - The Green Door Initiative Asian Pacific Environmental Network - Arizona Physicians for Social Responsibility - Worksafe, Inc. Louisiana Bucket Brigade - International Campaign for Responsible Technology WE ACT for Environmental Justice - Coastal Women for Change - Gert Town Revival Initiative, Inc. - Green For All - Christopher Reynolds Foundation May 16, 2012 Dear President Obama; Given the continuing gridlock in Congress, we are writing to urge you to take executive action to ensure that high-risk chemical facilities fulfill their obligation under the Clean Air Act to prevent the catastrophic release of extremely hazardous chemicals. According to chemical facility reports to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), more than 480 chemical facilities each put 100,000 or more people at risk of a poison gas disaster. In 2004, the Homeland Security Council projected that an attack on a poison gas facility would kill 17,500 people, seriously injure 10,000 more people, and send an additional 100,000 people to the hospital. In 2006, you referred to these hazards as "stationary weapons of mass destruction spread all across the country." Later in 2006, Congress passed a 740-word law which temporarily authorized the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to issue new rules now called the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards. Unfortunately this statute explicitly bars the DHS from requiring any specific "security measure," including the most fool-proof measure: safer chemical processes that can eliminate catastrophic poison gas hazards. It also exempts thousands of chemical facilities, including approximately 2,400 water treatment facilities and hundreds of port facilities, including the majority of U.S. petroleum refineries. In 2009, to correct the flaws in the 2006 law, the DHS and EPA asked Congress for new authority to require high-risk chemical facilities to assess safer chemical processes, and for the highest risk facilities to implement safer processes where feasible. In addition, the DHS and EPA asked Congress to eliminate the exemptions for water treatment and port facilities. In November 2009, the House of Representatives adopted a comprehensive bill (H.R. 2868) that would have corrected these fatal flaws. Since then, this legislation has been blocked by the petro-chemical lobby and their allies in Congress. Until Congress acts responsibly, the only way to ensure communities are protected from chemical disasters is to fully enforce the 1990 Clean Air Act. The Clean Air Act's "general duty clause" obligates all chemical facilities to be designed and operated to prevent catastrophic chemical releases. By issuing new rules and guidance, the EPA can both prevent accidental chemical disasters and reduce the attractiveness of these facilities as terrorist targets. In 2002, the EPA drafted just such a proposal that would have made chemical facilities"inherently safer by reducing quantities of hazardous chemicals handled or stored, substituting less hazardous chemicals for extremely hazardous ones, or otherwise modifying the design of processes to reduce or eliminate chemical hazards." Tragically, the Bush administration scuttled this plan. In a March 14, 2012 letter, the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) urged EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to adopt such a proposal, saying"the Clean Air Act's prevention authority will not only eliminate accidental hazards but will also address fatal flaws in the current chemical security law..." On April 3, 2012, former EPA Administrator Gov. Christine Todd Whitman also wrote Administrator Jackson. Whitman said the 2006 law "is extremely limited" in preventing chemical disasters and concluded by saying, "I therefore fully support the implementation of the NEJAC recommendations and any other authorities you can apply to reduce these hazards before a tragedy of historic proportions occurs." Fortunately, safer cost-effective chemical processes are widely available. Since 2001, hundreds of chemical facilities have switched to safer chemical processes and eliminated these risks to 40 million people in 47 states. And in November 2009, the Clorox Company announced plans to convert all of its U.S. facilities. While this is encouraging, reliance on voluntary efforts has left more than 100 million people in the U.S. at risk because they live and work inside "vulnerability zones" surrounding the high risk chemical facilities. Businesses are also negatively impacted. Due to their potential liability for hauling poison gases, the Association of American Railroads issued a statement in 2008 saying, "It's time for the big chemical companies to do their part to help protect America. They should stop manufacturing dangerous chemicals when safer substitutes are available..." In the Senate you were a leader on preventing chemical plant disasters. And in Change We Can Believe In your 2008 campaign promised that "An Obama Administration will...Secure our chemical plants by setting a clear set of federal regulations that all plants must follow, including improving barriers, containment, mitigation and safety training, and wherever possible, using safer technology, such as less toxic chemicals." We respectfully urge you to use your authority under the Clean Air Act to ensure the use of safer chemical processes to eliminate these catastrophic hazards wherever feasible, whether they are triggered by accident or terrorism. We look forward to working with you and your staff on this critical initiative. Sincerely, Peg Seminario AFL-CIO Dave LeGrande Communications Workers of America (CWA) LaMont Byrd International Brotherhood of Teamsters John Morawetz International Chemical Workers Union Council (ICWUC)/UFCW, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Bill Borwegen Service Employees International Union David Foster Blue Green Alliance Jeanne Rizzo Breast Cancer Fund Josh Nassar United Automobile Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) Michael J. Wright United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union (USW) Jay Feldman Beyond Pesticides Judy Levin Center for Environmental Health Daniel Rosenberg Natural Resources Defence Council Lois Gibbs Center for Health, Environment & Justice Daryl Ditz Center for International Environmental Law Barbara Warren Citizens' Environmental Coalition Lynn Thorp Clean Water Action Andria Ventura Clean Water Action, California Andrew Fellows Clean Water Action, Chesapeake Region Gary Wockner Clean Water Action, Colorado Anne Hulick Clean water Action, Connecticut Kathy Aterno Clean Water Action, Florida Cindy Luppi Clean Water Action, Massachusetts Susan Harley Clean Water Action, Michigan Deanna White Clean Water Action, Minnesota Myron Arnowitt Clean Water Action, Pennsylvania Jamie Rhodes Clean Water Action, Rhode Island Tracey Easthope Ecology Center Shelley Vinyard Environment America Richard Denison Environmental Defense Fund Judith Robinson Environmental Health Fund Steve Taylor Environmental Health Strategy Center Erich Pica Friends of the Earth Rick Hind Greenpeace Gary Cohen Health Care Without Harm Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff Healthy Child, Healthy World Tiernan Sittenfeld League of Conservation Voters Sean Moulton OMB Watch Tyson Slocum Public Citizen Ed Hopkins Sierra Club Catherine Thomasson Physicians for Social Responsibility Nasima Hossain U.S. Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG) Kristen Breitweiser 9/11 Widow and Activist Nathalie Walker and Monique Harden Advocates for Environmental Human Rights Matthew S. Tejada Air Alliance Houston Pamela K. Miller Alaska Community Action on Toxics Rick White Alliance@IBM CWA 1701, Western Broome Environmental Stakeholders Coalition Barbara Sattler Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments Chris Trepal Earth Day Coalition Clay G. Colson Citizens for Sanity.com, Inc. Kathy Curtis Clean and Healthy New York Mark Rossi Clean Production Action Luke Metzger Environment Texas Beverly Wright Deep South Center for Environmental Justice Judy Braiman Empire State Consumer Project Lin Kaatz Chary Indiana Toxics Action Denny Larson National Bucket Brigade Coalition, National Refinery Reform Campaign, Global Community Monitor Jeannie Economos Farmworkers Association of Florida Arlene Blum Green Science Policy Institute Bill Walsh Healthy Building Network Sanford Lewis Investor Environmental Health Network Elizabeth Crowe Kentucky Environmental Foundation Richard Moore Los Jardines Institute (The Gardens Institute) Dorothy Felix Mossville Environmental Action Now Jennifer Kim NJ PIRG Laura Haight NYPIRG Rick Engler NJ Work Environment Council Boyce Thorne Miller Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance Tom Smith Public Citizen, Texas Kelly Campbell Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility Juan Parras Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (T.E.J.A.S.) Paul Burns VPIRG Teresa Mendez-Quigley Women's Health and Environmental Network Erin Switalski Women's Voices for the Earth Kathy Burns Sciencecorps Erin Heaney Clean Air Coalition of Western New York Jim Puckett Basel Action Network Amy Goldsmith New Jersey Environmental Federation Makani N. Themba The Praxis Project Rev. Fletcher Harper GreenFaith Carolyn Wysocki ECHO Ecological Health Organization Jaron Browne POWER Deepak Bhargava Center for Community Change Ai-jen Poo National Domestic Workers Alliance Andrea Durbin Oregon Environmental Council Sofia Martinez Concerned Citizens of Wagon Mound and Mora County Jill Johnston Southwest Workers Union Sarita Gupta Jobs With Justice Natalie Roy Clean Water Network Martha Dina Arguello Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles Donele Wilkins The Green Door Initiative Roger Kim Asian Pacific Environmental Network Barbara Warren Arizona Physicians for Social Responsibility Sophie Noero Worksafe, Inc. Anne Rolfes Louisiana Bucket Brigade Ted Smith International Campaign for Responsible Technology Cynthia Bradley American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Cecil D. Corbin-Mark WE ACT for Environmental Justice Sharon Hanshaw Coastal Women for Change Rev. Lois J. Dejean Gert Town Revival Initiative, Inc. Phaedra Ellis Lamkins Green For All Stephen Viederman Christopher Reynolds Foundation CC: Lisa Jackson Administrator U.S. EPA Ted Schettler Science and Environmental Health Network Deborah E. Moore Second Look Jos? T. Bravo Just Transition Alliance