Does it seem like chemical-related accidents are on the upswing?
It’s not your imagination according to The Guardian, a British news outlet.
“[A]ccidental releases – be they through train derailments, truck crashes, pipeline ruptures or industrial plant leaks and spills – are … occurring, on average, every two days.
“The precise number of hazardous chemical incidents is hard to determine because the U.S. has multiple agencies involved in response, but the EPA has performed an average of 235 emergency response actions per year, including responses to discharges of hazardous chemicals or oil.”
In addition, the Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters “has counted 10 rail-related chemical contamination events over the last two-and-a-half years, including the derailment in East Palestine.”
A string of fires and explosions at food manufacturing plants and warehouses in 2021 stoked fears that terrorists could be targeting the food supply chain. Emergency response experts disagreed over the root causes and frequency of major accidents in the food sector.
