The following post is from Eric Steen, director of communications for the BlueGreen Alliance.
One would think that question had to have come up sometime during the discussion when the honorable U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin and Sen. James Inhofe—both of Oklahoma—drafted bills that would stop the EPA from implementing updates to their rules that would help prevent industrial disasters. But, here we are with Mullin’s House Joint Resolution 59 and Inhofe’s Senate Joint Resolution 28 introduced in their respective bodies.
Listen, I realize that one of these guys is most famous for bringing a snowball on the Senate floor to disprove climate change. And, the other is a former professional mixed martial arts fighter.
But, even they have to appreciate how bad of an idea it is to do away with rule changes that were informed by the terrible disaster in West, Texas that killed 15 people—12 of which were first responders—destroyed three out of four of the town’s schools, and leveled homes and businesses.
Right?
No. They clearly don’t get it.
This is a huge problem. There are more than 150 major chemical releases, fires or explosions at industrial facilities a year in the U.S. And, you might be living close enough to one of these facilities that could be made safer by these protections. Or, maybe your kids go to school near one.
The EPA did its job. It reviewed what happened, found the flaws that allowed it to happen, figured out new rules to prevent the next one, and then finalized them in the waning months of the Obama administration.
This is a huge problem. There are more than 150 major chemical releases, fires or explosions at industrial facilities a year in the U.S.
Now, instead of looking at all that good work and saying, “Hey, that’s great. Maybe we can prevent a tragedy due to the negligence of companies that value profit over lives,” we get these extreme Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions to do away with the rules.
And, it would be really bad if that were it. But, these CRA resolutions do more than just stop these updated safeguards. They actually bar the EPA from ever making similar changes to their Risk Management Program in the future.
So, this is terrible, but there’s nothing that can be done about it, right? Wrong. You can do something about it.
These bills haven’t passed yet and you can let your U.S. Representative and Senators know that putting workers, first responders, and communities in danger by doing away with these safeguards is wrong and something they must vote against.
Send them your letter urging them to oppose H.J. Res 59 and S.J. Res 28.
Then follow up with a phone call to them at (202) 224-3121 (that’s the Congressional switchboard, they’ll get you in touch with the right offices).
And, finally, if you happen to be one of the people who have a Rep. or Sen. holding an in-person town hall meeting (which has about the same odds as winning the lottery. Only, if you win, instead of buying a new house and car you get to talk to your member of Congress, so pretty much the same thing), stand up and ask where they stand on protecting workers, first responders, and communities around industrial facilities (there are probably a few in your town).