The Sierra Club has filed a lawsuit along with twelve other conservation groups against the Trump administration for unlawful amendments that weaken the Obama-era Chemical Disaster Rule. The Risk Management Program Rule was put in place by the Obama administration and has received backlash from the chemical industry. Trump’s EPA has rolled back important regulations that reduce the risks of chemical plant disasters.

“We are going to court to protect the people of our country from these dangerous rollbacks. These rollbacks will put more people in harm’s way from dangerous chemical facilities, especially in the case of emergencies or disasters such as major storm events. New Jersey has some of the most dangerous chemical facilities in the country. Once again, Donald Trump and Andrew Wheeler are siding against the people and the environment of the US. They are giving in to the chemical industry and weakening important protections that keep us safe,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.”We are saddened to see the bill named after NJ Senator Frank Lautenberg, a champion for chemical safety, get weakened by the Trump Administration. We will keep fighting to protect public health and our environment from Trump.”

President Trump’s EPA has made many attempts to delay Obama administration rules. In September, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted a motion from environmental groups to make the EPA start enforcing these regulations. Now, EPA has amended the rule to weaken its protections and eliminate all disaster-prevention measures. The rollbacks target requirements for plant owners to consider safer alternatives to various technologies, third party audits to check for compliance with accident prevention rules, conduct “root cause” analyses after incidents and disclose certain information to the community about operations.

“This dismantling of protections will put people at risk across the country. The risk of a spill or explosion threatens our safety, health, and the environment. Just the other week, explosions at a chemical plant in Texas displaced over 50,000 people and injured 8. New Jersey is one of the states most at risk because we are a densely populated state with over 100 of these facilities. An explosion at one of them could kill 100,000 people or more. We’ve seen them blow up like Napp Chemical which killed four people, and facilities like Kuehune Chemical which also put millions of people at risk,” said Tittel. “That is why we need strong chemical safety regulations to protect us from the hazards of the over a hundred of these facilities in New Jersey.”

Environmental groups and twelve states filed suit against Trump’s EPA over its June decision to delay implementation of the chemical safety rule. These important safety rules established by the Obama Administration could have been delayed for two years had the court not stepped in. In August, the court ruled that the Trump administration unlawfully delayed the rule. The Trump administration proposed to change the Risk Management Program Rule, rolling back important regulations that reduce the risks of chemical plant disasters.

“Not only does our state have many hazardous facilities, but the chemical safety rule itself was created by and named after New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, a champion for chemical safety. The decision to weaken this rule is dangerous for the people and environment of the United States. These rules were a response to the dangers of chemical plants, including the 2013 explosion at a chemical plant in Texas that killed 15 people,” said Jeff Tittel. “The EPA under the Obama Administration originally planned to go forward with these rules to meet the TSCA Law and address chemical safety. Now, Trump and his cronies have shamefully rolled them back.”

Nearly 180 million Americans live in the worst-case scenario zones for a chemical disaster. About 12,500 industrial facilities across the country use, store, or manage hazardous chemicals that these regulations cover. When the Obama administration was developing this chemical safety rule, it determined that prior protections failed to prevent over 2,200 chemical fires, explosions, leakes, and similar incidents during a 10-year period.

“We are going to court to do the job the federal government is supposed to be doing to protect public safety from these chemical disasters. Since the federal government has rolled back the regulation and monitoring of chemicals, it is even more critical than ever that states step up with strong standards when it comes to chemical safety. It’s clear that Andrew Wheeler is siding with the chemical companies over the safety and wellbeing of the people of the United States. This is part of a one-two punch with his plans to get rid of the Chemical Safety Advisory Board. People have the right to know about dangerous toxins in their workplaces and communities. Andrew Wheeler is proving once again that he is unfit to lead the EPA and protect the people and environment of this country,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.