Report outlines chemical plant danger

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March 12, 2002

Report outlines chemical plant danger

By The Washington Post

WASHINGTON - A previously undisclosed study by the Army Surgeon General

concludes that as many as 2.4 million people could be killed or injured in a

terrorist attack against a U.S. toxic chemical plant in a densely populated

area.

The medical hazard threat assessment, completed the month after the Sept. 11

terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, suggests that terrorist

assaults on chemical industry complexes could result in twice as many

casualties as previously assumed in other worst-case scenarios envisioned by

the government.

Even middle-range casualty estimates from a chemical weapons attack or

explosion of a toxic chemical manufacturing plant are as high as 903,400

people, according to the analysis, a copy of which was obtained Monday by

the Washington Post.

Lyn Kukral, a spokesperson for the Army's Office of the Surgeon General,

said the data was meant to be more illustrative than a precise casualty

projection.

However, officials used the casualty estimates during an internal government

conference last fall to plan medical responses to a broad range of terrorist

scenarios.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, lawmakers, federal officials and environmental

groups have repeatedly warned the chemical industry that terror attacks

could turn hazardous materials plants into weapons of mass destruction.

Industry officials say they have instituted important safeguards, but

critics say much more is needed.

Monday, the Natural Resources Defense Council, a 400,000-member advocacy

group, filed a lawsuit in federal court charging that the Justice Department

has failed to submit a report to Congress on the vulnerability of U.S.

chemical plants to terrorists attacks, as required by an amendment to the

Clean Air Act.

The Justice Department missed an August 2000 deadline for filing an interim

report and Bush administration officials have notified Congress that they

will not meet an Aug. 5 deadline for the final report because of inadequate

funding.

``Chemical plants are an incredibly urgent priority for homeland security,

but they are being ignored at the highest levels of government,'' said Rena

Steinzor, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

A Justice Department spokesperson said Monday that officials have not seen

the suit and were withholding comment.

Reps. Dingell, D-Mich., and Pallone, D-N.J., senior members of

the Committee on Energy and Commerce, recently asked the General Accounting

Office to conduct a detailed review of chemical plants' preparedness for

acts of terrorism.

According to an analysis last year by the Environmental Protection Agency,

at least 123 U.S. plants each keep amounts of toxic chemicals that, if

released, could form deadly vapor clouds that would endanger more than 1

million people.

The Army Surgeon General's analysis, dated Oct. 29, showed that attacks on

toxic chemical plants or chemical stockpiles could produce more than twice

as many casualties.

The study ranked the threat of attacks against chemical plants second only

to the widespread use of biological weapons - such as the introduction of

small pox virus or contamination of the country's water or food supply -

which could generate as many as 4.18 million casualties.

The study did not assess the potential casualties from a nuclear attack.

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group and other environmental groups have

called for legislation to require operators of chemical facilities to reduce

the quantities of hazardous chemicals stored at their sites or switch to

safer materials.

The American Chemistry Council, an industry group, issued guidelines last

fall suggesting ways to improve physical security at facilities and protect

the transportation of hazardous materials.

The council recently decided to require members to complete security studies

and make necessary changes, using a framework developed by the Justice

Department.

Copyright © 2002 The Register-Guard