Accidental Release Prevention Requirements: Risk Management Programs Under the Clean Air Act; Further Delay of Effective Date

The document argues that the EPA's proposed 20-month delay of the Chemical Disaster Rule is unlawful, arbitrary, and dangerous to public health and national security. It contends that the delay violates the Clean Air Act's three-month limit on reconsideration stays and ignores the agency's own findings regarding the urgent need for updated risk management programs to prevent catastrophic chemical releases.

• The EPA's proposed 20-month delay of the Chemical Disaster Rule violates the Clean Air Act, which explicitly limits any stay of a rule's effectiveness during reconsideration to a period not exceeding three months.
• The Chemical Disaster Rule was developed to address significant risks identified by the EPA, including an average of 225 accidents per year at covered facilities, with over 150 expected to cause reportable harm.
• The document asserts that delaying the rule endangers fenceline communities, workers, and first responders by postponing critical updates to risk management, such as the requirement for the three highest-accident sectors—petroleum refineries, chemical manufacturers, and pulp and paper mills—to assess safer technology.
• The EPA's justification for the delay relies on a reconsideration process triggered partly by the 2013 West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion; however, the document argues this is a pretext because the ATF findings regarding the cause of that incident were already public during the original comment period.
• The document claims the delay is a threat to national security because it postpones the assessment and potential phasing out of highly toxic substances like hydrofluoric acid, which could reduce harm regardless of the cause of a release.
• The document argues that Administrator Scott Pruitt's involvement in the rulemaking is a conflict of interest and a violation of due process, as he previously advocated against the Chemical Disaster Rule while serving as Oklahoma Attorney General.
• The Chemical Disaster Rule includes critical emergency preparedness requirements, such as annual coordination with local first responders and simulated-emergency exercises, which the document argues are essential to prevent deaths among responders.

APA

Earthjustice (2017). Accidental Release Prevention Requirements: Risk Management Programs Under the Clean Air Act; Further Delay of Effective Date. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/chemdisasterruledelaycomments-5.19.2017.pdf

Chicago

Earthjustice. Accidental Release Prevention Requirements: Risk Management Programs Under the Clean Air Act; Further Delay of Effective Date. 2017. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/chemdisasterruledelaycomments-5.19.2017.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Earthjustice |title=Accidental Release Prevention Requirements: Risk Management Programs Under the Clean Air Act; Further Delay of Effective Date |date=19 May 2017 |url=https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/chemdisasterruledelaycomments-5.19.2017.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{earthjustice2017accidental, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Accidental Release Prevention Requirements: Risk Management Programs Under the Clean Air Act; Further Delay of Effective Date}}, publisher = {Earthjustice}, year = {2017}, month = may, url = {https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/chemdisasterruledelaycomments-5.19.2017.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }