OMB Watch Wins in Court for Access to Risk Management Data

After almost four years of silence, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released updated information on Risk Management Plans (RMPs) filed by facilities with large quantities of hazardous chemicals onsite, in order to inform communities about the risks. The agency released the information to OMB Watch after the organization sued EPA for failing to respond to its request filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). OMB Watch has posted the executive summaries of the RMPs on its Right to Know Network website. Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks the EPA removed the RMP database from its website, replacing it with a message explaining that in light of attacks the database had been "temporarily removed." The message also states that the agency hopes to make the information available online again "as soon as possible." However, after almost four years EPA has not reestablished online access to any of the RMP information. The RMP Database contains the plans for facilities that store hazardous chemicals, such as chlorine gas, which pose significant risks to nearby communities if released due to accident, natural disaster, or terrorist attack. Facilities submit RMP reports to the EPA explaining their operations, safety equipment, accident prevention and response plans, and an accident history. The RMP information allows the public to make informed decisions about its own safety. The chemical industry has lobbied hard against public access to this information, seizing on terrorism to justify curtailing public access to information on industry and shirking corporate accountability. Public interest groups have maintained that the RMP information is the first step in identifying and solving any vulnerabilities that exist at chemical plants and in making our communities safer. Since EPA discontinued public access to the RMP data, the only online resource for this information has been OMB Watch's Right-to-Know Network (RTK NET) website. However, EPA refused OMB Watch's efforts to update the information on RTK NET. The agency refused the organization's 2003 request under the Freedom of Information Act for electronic copies of the RMP executive summaries. The agency's claims for refusing the information, which by law is collected specifically to inform communities about chemical risks, were based on the reports being part of internal agency rules and therefore exempt from public release. OMB Watch immediately filed an appeal noting the requirement under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 that RMP reports be collected and released to the public and that reading rooms around the country provide access to paper versions of the documents. The appeal also pointed out that under the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments, agencies may not deny requests for electronic format if the information is releasable. After waiting for almost two years for EPA to respond to the appeal, OMB Watch retained legal counsel and filed a complaint in court. After only 30 days, the agency provided the data without ever filing a counter-argument or offering an explanation for its early refusals. Last week Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA) released a Congressional Research Service report that utilized the RMP data to demonstrate that chemical security is a nationwide issue. See related story. The updated executive summaries can be searched and accessed here.
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