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11 EPA J. 12 (1985)
Di-Methyl-Doorknob and the Right to Know

handle is hein.journals/epajrnl11 and id is 331 raw text is: Di-Methyl-Doorknob and the Right to Know by Harold J. Corbett D i-methyl-doorknob. A new chemical for home builders? No. It's a term often used by chemical industry and government officials to stand for chemicals generally. But there is an aspect to the term that makes it particularly appropriate as an introduction to discussing a community's right to know about the hazards and safety precautions of chemical manufacturing. Di-methyl-doorknob hints at the strange sound and unpronounceable nature of some chemical names. And it is this strangeness that contributes to the concern many people have about the safety of certain chemicals, their health To mintain public acceptance of our operations, we will have to continue being visible, ;aformative, and responsible 7fonpanies in our towns. effects, and whether the chemical industry is taking these factors into account as it goes about its daily business. Of course, much more than a vague concern about the language of chemistry motivates the public's currently intense interest in the safety of chemical manufacturing. The tragic gas leak at Bhopal, India, and much less serious leaks last summer in West Virginia are causing chemical industry managers, labor officials, regulators, legislators, citizen groups, and just about everyone else to ponder how to satisfy the public's right to know about chemical hazards and how to allow their participation in developing emergency response plans. Bhopal did not make the chemical industry a newcomer on the issue of community right to know. For years, chemical plants that are a major presence in their communities have been providing to local fire, police, and emergency preparedness officials (Corieti i , Jeiior Vice President for liwiroomict, Facilities, ord Materials (;f 01, orni Co.) information on chemicals that could pose a sudden health threat to the populace. Plant and local officials have met to coordinate emergency response actions and occasionally have trained together in mock chemical disasters. In addition, information developed by chemical companies to educate their employees on the hazards and safety precautions for specific chemicals often reached a broader audience: commercial customers and others directly involved with chemicals. Soon after Bhopal, this kind of information became much more broadly available. A number of firms decided to publicly release material safety data sheets for high-hazard chemicals. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules mandate these sheets for chemical workers. The sheets typically are three to four pages long and describe a chemical's physical properties, its health effects, safety precautions, and initial response steps for a spill or leak. The Bhopal disaster also caused a number of firms to consider public outreach efforts that extend well beyond the release of data sheets. Monsanto, for example, instituted an open gates policy that encourages citizen groups, the news media, and other organizations to tour our plants and discuss potential hazards and safety systems. No thoughtful people in the chemical industry regard this greater community involvement as a one-shot effort. We know that to maintain public acceptance of our operations we will have to continue being visible, informative, and responsible companies in our towns. As a result, the industry's principal trade organization, the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA), is enlisting member companies in two major new community information and emergency response programs. These are called the Community Awareness and Emergency Response (CAER) effort and the National Chemical Response and Information Center (NCRIC). The July/August issue of the EPA Journal covered these innovative programs in some detail, so I'll simply summarize them. CAER calls on chemical plant managers to become the catalysts in their cities and towns for integrating plant and community emergency response plans. NCRIC supplements the industry's long-standing emergency response telephone service, CHEMTREC, with on scene experts, training materials for local fire and police officials, and a toll-free telephone referral service for citizens to obtain information on chemical products. These CMA programs, coupled with the public outreach efforts of individual companies, are making available more information on chemical hazards and safety measures than occurred before. These programs are galvanizing cities and towns into planning for a variety of emergencies, including natural disasters, mishaps at oil and gas facilities, and transportation accidents involving toxic substances. They reflect a good faith effort to meet the community's right to know. Nonetheless, numerous legislative proposals at the federal and state levels are seeking more detailed information on emissions figures, materials balances, storage quantities and locations, and still more fact sheets on chemical properties and hazards. Much of this information appears to be sought without an opportunity for public comment on its usefulness for public health protection. As I've indicated, the chemical industry supports public disclosure of information on the potential hazards of our raw materials and products. We also. think that certain principles ought to guide further action in this area so that the public gets wheat, not chaff, in terms of usable information and so that the industry is not inundated in new, perhaps conflicting paperwork requirements that are expensive to meet but yield no measurable public safety benefit. I'd like to discuss some of these principles: 1. Existing requirements for reporting chemical accidents and providing emergency response should be recognized. For example, the Superfund. law already requires reports to EPA on releases of hazardous materials. In addition, numerous federal agencies, including EPA and the Department of Transportation, have prescribed roles to play in local emergency preparedness related to chemical accidents. Care must, EPA JOURNAL

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