Toxic chemicals pose a silent and growing threat in floods like Hurricane Helen

Toxic chemicals pose a silent and growing threat in floods like Hurricane Helen

Written by James R. Elliott, Dominic Boyer, and Phylicia Lee Brown & The Conversation US

The following essay is reproduced with permission. conversationan online publication covering the latest research.

Hundreds of industrial facilities with toxic pollutants are Hurricane Helen’s pathlike a powerful storm Communities flooded across the Southeast Late September 2024.

Helen entered Georgia near the coast and swept through paper mills, fertilizer plants, and oil and gas storage facilities. Paper mills are one of them. The most polluting industry on earth– Some have thousands of pounds of lead on site due to previous production practices.

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Florida state authorities reported. A decommissioned nuclear power plant just south of Cedar Key Storm surges of up to 12 feet flooded buildings and industrial drainage ponds. Spent nuclear fuel stored on site Flooded by Hurricane Idalia in 2023it was believed to be safereported Bloomberg.

Further inland, a storm swept through over 1 foot of rain Some industrial sites in the Carolinas and Tennessee were located near waterways that quickly flooded. runoff from the mountain.

In such disasters, industrial damage can unfold over several days, and residents may not hear about the release of toxic chemicals into the water or air until days or weeks later. if they knew that.

However, pollutant emissions are common.

After Hurricane Ian hit Florida’s west coast in 2022, it generated millions of gallons of wastewater, as well as runoff containing toxic substances from damaged storage tanks and local fertilizer mining facilities. visible from spacespilling over coastal wetlands into the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Ida occurred one year ago. More than 2,000 chemical spills reported.

During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, chemical facilities near Houston were flooded. some The fire occurred because the cooling system failed.releasing large amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere. Dear emergency personnel and residents, People didn’t know what risks they faced and blamed the chemicals. Because it causes respiratory illness.

many kinds of Toxic substances can spread, settle, and transform The long-term health and environmental safety of the surrounding community often has little notice to residents. our team environmentsociologist and anthropologist created a map of hazardous industrial sites across the country and combined it with a hurricane’s projected impact map to help communities take responsibility for nearby facilities.

Gulf petrochemical complexes are at risk

Risks from industrial facilities are most pronounced along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Major petrochemical complex teeth Concentrated in the direction of causing harm. These refineries, factories, and storage facilities are often built along rivers or bays for ease of transportation.

However, these rivers can cause storm surge flooding, which can cause sea levels to rise several feet during hurricanes. Storm surge from Helen reached more than 10 feet above ground in Big Bend, Florida 6 feet tall in tampa bay.

Recent research has found evidence that: 2-3 times more contamination From 2005 to 2020, emissions during hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico were higher than during normal weather.

The impacts of these pollutant releases disproportionately affect and worsen low-income communities and people of color. environmental health risks.

Why residents don’t hear about toxic releases

Although this statistic is disconcerting, it has received little attention. That’s because harmful emissions remain largely invisible due to limited disclosure requirements and little public information. flat emergency responder In many cases, we don’t know exactly which dangerous chemicals we are facing in an emergency situation.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires major polluters to notify Very general information only About chemicals and on-site risks risk management plan. some large scale fuel storage facilityCompanies that own liquefied natural gas don’t even need to do that.

These risk management plans outline ‘worst-case’ scenarios and are to be made available to the public. But in fact, with us others found it difficult Heavily edited and stored in the Federal Reading Room with limited access. The reason is local officials and National Scientific Review Board Secrecy is often required to protect facilities from terrorist attacks.

Adding to this uncertainty is the fact that many states, including those along the Gulf Coast, have suspended regulations on pollutant releases during the state of emergency. On the other hand, real-time incident notifications national response center– A federal repository that stores all chemical releases into the environment – ​​typically delayed by a week or more;

We believe this limited public information about the growing chemical threat from climate change should be front-page news every hurricane season. Communities need to be aware of the risks of hosting vulnerable industrial infrastructure, especially as global temperatures rise. Risk of extreme heavy rain increases and powerful hurricane.

Mapping and raising awareness of risks across the country

To help communities understand their risks, our team at Rice University’s new center Coastal future and adaptive resilience We investigate how industrial communities in flood-prone areas across the country can adapt to such threats, both socially and technologically.

our interactive map Indicates where major pollution sources identified using the EPA could be flooded due to increased future flood risk. toxic release inventory.

The United States has several hotspots of polluters that are prone to flooding. The shipping lanes of Houston, the coastal steel industry of Chicago, and the ports of Los Angeles and New York/New Jersey are among the largest.

But as Helen revealed, there can be major concerns in the less obvious areas. In inland areas, especially in mountainous areas, normally calm rivers can quickly turn into rapids due to runoff. French Broad River rises in Asheville, North Carolina 12 feet in 12 hours Helen’s room Set a new record for flood stage.

When hurricanes and tropical storms head toward the United States, our interactive map now show Where are the major polluters? within the expected impact cone of the storm. The map identifies dangerous facilities at risk of flooding, right down to your address, anywhere in the country.

knowledge is the first step

Knowing where these sites are located is only the first step. It often relies on the community itself, many of which already have Overexposed and historically underservedraising concerns and calling for strategies to reduce the health, economic and environmental risks that may be posed by industrial sites at risk of flooding and other damage.

These discussions cannot wait until a disaster occurs. By knowing where these risks lie, communities can take steps now to build a safer future.

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