Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act requires the creation of Risk Management Plans to address prevention of chemical accidents. In particular, chemical facilities must identify and assess their chemical hazards and carry out certain activities designed to reduce the likelihood and severity of chemical releases. The law requires this information to be available to the public. According to EPA, “Using this information citizens will have the opportunity to work with industry to reduce risks to the community from chemical accidents.”

For years, the Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant, just outside of Washington, D.C., stored deadly chlorine gas in 90-ton rail cars. A rupture of just one of these rail cars would have put 1.7 million people at risk, covering the White House, Congress, as well as Bolling Air Force Base.

There appears to be considerable variance between what constituents want and what Congress needs, according to two reports on congressional websites released this year. The Congress Online Project's November 2001 report and the Advocacy Group's February 2001 report provide a useful balance of perspectives around public attitudes and expectations towards individual member websites, and ways these potentially valuable resources can be improved.

The Advocacy Group

There are well over 2,000 Community Technology Centers (CTCs) and related community technology projects that provide a range of technology services to low-income, minority, and hard-to-serve populations across America. Often a community technology effort does not carry the label of a CTC, even though they provide CTC-type services in urban and rural communities. Libraries, schools, and nonprofit organizations that play a key role in our communities coordinate many community technology efforts. Often the building which houses a community technology center serves as the focal point of community activity, a center for learning and workforce preparedness, a showcase of community collaborations among businesses, government and nonprofit and civic organizations. The number of new programs has been increasing exponentially as communities recognize that access to technology is a key to economic empowerment, workforce competitiveness, and community building.