"Texas Flood Shows Need For Chemical Safety Rule, Advocates Say"

"Industrial safety advocates and Texas residents say a flood-related fires and explosions at the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, underscores the need for a worker and community safety regulation.

Issued by the Obama Administration in January and blocked by the Trump Environmental Protection Agency in March, that regulation would require chemical safety improvements at industrial plants.

If fully implemented, the new regulation would require greater public disclosure from companies that use large amounts of certain chemicals, notes Yvette Arellano, spokesperson with TEJAS, the Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services, a community-based nonprofit. The rule would also call for firms to conduct root-cause analysis after an accident, she adds."

Jeff Johnson reports for Chemical & Engineering News September 11, 2017.