Hazardous Neighbors

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On Oct. 5, 2006, many residents in Apex, North Carolina, drove past an Environmental Quality Company (EQ) hazardous waste facility as they would have on any other work day.

But by 9:38 pm, much had changed. A haze shrouded the area. A strong chlorine smell was in the air.

Within the next hour, two explosions occurred. Fireballs erupted hundreds of feet into the air. Wind directions changed, spreading the toxic plume. Approximately 17,000 residents were ordered to evacuate, according to a Federal Emergency Management Agency report. Those staying closest to the facility were told to stay put—their houses were already surrounded by the toxic gas.

Nobody was hurt in the incident, but the fear it triggered among residents, lawmakers and emergency responders who had no idea which chemicals were in the facility led the state legislature to implement a flurry of regulations in 2007. No new hazardous waste facilities have been built in North Carolina since.

But the new regulations still leave many in the dark about what to do in case of an emergency– or even about the existence of hazardous waste facilities in their neighborhood.

A case close to home: Raleigh

In 2007, 15,000 gallons of sulfuric acid leaked from Mallinckrodt Chemical, a pharmaceutical plant in Raleigh. Although it was contained within the compound, impending rain brought fears that the chemical would react with water and produce acidic mist. Police briefly closed roads and urged residents to stay indoors.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency data from 2011, Mallinckrodt produces the fourth largest amount of hazardous waste in North Carolina. Its 600-acre plant is close to many shops, churches, apartments and a few schools one mile away.

Julia Casey is a bartender, working a quarter mile from the facility. She moved to the area in February. She said she didn’t know about the facility.

“I would’ve felt more comfortable if someone let me know that they’re over there,” she said. “It would be great if they can notify every six months.”

What would she do in case of an emergency at the plant?

“If it’s chemical gas, I’m not sure if I would let people out of the building,” Casey said.

Several employees of other businesses near Mallinckrodt also had no idea about the facility’s existence and many didn’t know what to do in case of an emergency, but not all were worried. A Mallinckrodt official said the facility only shares safety procedures with the local emergency responders.

Hazardous waste can pose a threat to human health and the environment. The EPA has a complete list of chemicals it recognizes as hazardous waste, many of which are corrosive, flammable or toxic.

North Carolina ranks 29th in the nation for the amount of hazardous waste generated, according to the EPA’s 2011 biennial report on hazardous waste processing facilities. There are 13 facilities in the Triangle that transfer, store or dispose of hazardous waste.

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Apex EQ Plant Explosion. Source: Apex Fire Department

According to Greenpeace, one in three Americans is “at risk of a poison gas disaster by living near one of the hundreds of chemical facilities” despite the increase in safety regulations for chemical plants—regulations that are constantly being updated.

President Barack Obama issued an executive order to improve chemical plant safety following a 2013 West Texas chemical plant explosion that killed 15 people and had the force of a small earthquake.

Bill Gentry, an expert in disaster management and UNC-CH lecturer in health policy and management, said N.C.’s planning in safety regulation is fairly strong, but there are some underlying issues.

“I think it’s not the easiest way to access information,” Gentry said in regard to citizens’ rights to request data about chemical plants. “For the most time it is going to take you four to six weeks to get that list and you have a bit of process to go through.”

Gentry also said some chemicals don’t have to be reported.

“For industries to be required to report a chemical, it has to be on site for more than 24 hours…the explosion at the EQ site was directly related to chemicals that were just being stored there for 24 hours,” he said.

Ammonium nitrate is an example of a chemical that isn’t on the EPA’s list of hazardous waste, although it led to the West Texas explosion. It didn’t have to be reported under the EPA’s rules because it was used to produce fertilizers and wasn’t a waste. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board reported that there are hundreds of buildings containing this chemical within a one-mile radius of homes, schools, businesses and healthcare facilities in West Texas close to the explosion.

Kathleen Lawson, an official in N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, defended the safety of hazardous waste facilities. Companies have to go through a rigorous process to be approved and most have reliable safety measures.

“The facility has to come with a certain amount of secondary containment,” Lawson said. “They are designed with reasonable expectation that the secondary containment will contain whatever was released.”

In N.C., all commercial facilities that process hazardous waste materials are required to notify property owners within a quarter-mile every two and a half years about evacuation plans. A notification with this information must be published in local newspapers annually. The type and amount of waste must be reported to local emergency responders, along with the exact storage location.

These notification laws don’t apply to noncommercial facilities– companies that produce hazardous waste as a byproduct but don’t process it—no matter how much they store onsite. Mallinckrodt is an example of a non-commercial facility.

Permits for commercial hazardous waste facilities must also be renewed every five years. Lawson said people rarely show up at these public hearings.

“The biggest complaint (about the Apex EQ plant) was nobody knew it was there,” Lawson said the regulations help maintain safety. She said the EQ explosion was a freak accident. Veolia North America, another hazardous waste facility in N.C., has similar structures to EQ’s Apex plant, Lawson said. It hasn’t had any accidents.

“My father asked me how you can do that (issuing permits),” she said. “I said if I had to live beside a hazardous waste facility, I would say this is the one (Mallinckrodt) I want to live beside because I looked at it and it’s the safest.”

Public access to information

Citizens can find out about chemical plants near where they live or work under the federal Community Right-to-Know Act. They can contact their local fire departments or their Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPC).

But there are limits to the information: Blanket requests are usually denied, and citizens can usually ask only for information about specific facilities nearby.

“If they give us a specific address, we give them a detailed list—these are the chemicals, these are what protective measures are necessary and these are our recommendations,” said Kirby Saunders, Orange County emergency management coordinator. “We don’t post that information transparently on the website where it is accessible only because of security reasons.”

Saunders said the biggest threat isn’t the storage or processing of hazardous waste in Orange County—it is the transportation of these chemicals on I-40 and I-85.

“Any given day, there are estimates of 300 containers of hazardous materials transported through Orange County,” Saunders said.

Most people are unaware of this. People rarely approach him about this topic because they don’t even know they have access to such information.

“Every citizen should like to know what chemicals are stored around them where they live,” Saunders said. He is currently trying to revitalize the Orange County LEPC by working with schools to develop response plans.

“There is a fine line between raising awareness and raising alarm,” he said. “But we want citizens in our community to take a little more proactive approach.”