Advocacy Group Is Making Chemical Site Dangers Known

If you lived downwind from a manufacturing plant that could release a cloud of highly toxic chemicals into the air, would you know about it?

Probably not, because recent federal legislation effectively restricts the public from learning about potential chemical disasters, according to an advocacy group.

But you can find out from the Right-to-Know advocacy group, which has made the Environmental Protection Agency’s worst-case scenario reports available on its Web site, RTK Net (https://www.rtk.net).

The site is operated by public- interest groups OMB Watch and the Unison Institute.

“People want to know if they’re living under the shadow of a potential chemical disaster,” said Paul Orum, spokesman for the Working Group on Community Right-to-Know, a nonprofit organization coordinating RTK Net and other environmental advocacy groups.

For example, in Orlando, Fla., Orum said, the Foamex foam-manufacturing facility releases 524,128 pounds of known carcinogens a year and is ranked in the top 10% of the country’s worst facilities.

Although Congress has not classified this kind of information, it has restricted its circulation to the public, citing potential danger from terrorists who could use the information to target chemical facilities.