Welcome to ToxicRisk.com

The Bhopal disaster or Bhopal gas tragedy was an industrial disaster that took place at a Union Carbide subsidiary pesticide plant in the city of Bhopal, India. On 3 December 1984, the plant released 42 tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, exposing more than 500,000 people to toxic gases. The first official immediate death toll was 2,259. A more probable figure is that 8,000 died within two weeks, and it is estimated that an additional 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases. Read more about Bhopal at WikiPedia.

The short story is that the U.S. responded to this disaster by introducing the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) in 1987. TRI does not offer the best information that we can use to protect ourselves from such disasters. It was not until 1999 that the first Risk Management Plans (RMP) were submitted to EPA. The RMP include an accident history, chemicals stored on-site, emergency response plans and much more. This data is much more useful but is not nearly as available to the public as the TRI. In fact, the most important portion - the worst case scenarios in case of an accidental release - were never distributed widely. Check our resources for more about this.

According to the EPA :

Under the authority of section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act, the Chemical Accident Prevention Provisions require facilities that produce, handle, process, distribute, or store certain chemicals to develop a Risk Management Program, prepare a Risk Management Plan (RMP), and submit the RMP to EPA. Covered facilities were initially required to comply with the rule in 1999, and the rule has been amended on several occassions since then, most recently in 2004.

Toxic Risks in Your Community

Currently we have two projects at ToxicRisk.com. Both are based on EPA's Risk Management Plan (RMP) data. The first project is an important historical archive as it is the first reporting (1999) of this data. The second project will be up and running in a few days. It is interactive map-based and includes the most recent 2004 RMP data. For more about the Risk Management Plan, visit EPA's Risk Management Plan website.

Click here to begin your search of the 1999 RMP reports and come back soon for the most recent data and maps.

More Coming in our Toxic Risk Pollution Map Series

In the near future we'll be adding the following to our database and maps. Be sure to also check out our Google Earth Maps of the recenlty released Toxic Release Inventory data. Note that all of our data is obtained from publicly available websites provided by RTK Net and the U.S. EPA:

Water Pollution (PCS)
The EPA PCS is a national computerized management information system that automates entry, updating, and retrieval of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) data and tracks permit issuance, permit limits and monitoring data, and other data pertaining to facilities regulated under NPDES. The NPDES permit program regulates direct discharges from municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facilities that discharge into the navigable waters of the United States. Wastewater treatment facilities (also called "point sources") are issued NPDES permits regulating their discharge. Reports for those facilities identified by EPA as "Major" include the names and amounts of chemicals and other substances that are discharged.

Superfund Sites NPL
Information on Superfund sites was obtained from the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Information System (CERCLIS), which is the official repository for site and non-site specific Superfund data in support of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, or Superfund). Sites are placed on the National Priorities List (NPL) by EPA if they have uncontrolled releases of hazardous substances that are priorities for long-term remediation and response.

Superfund Sites "No Further Action"
There are approximately 24,000 sites that have been included in CERCLIS in the past, but for which EPA requires no further action under the Federal Superfund program.

Superfund Sites NOT on NPL
These are Superfund sites where there is ongoing Federal interest or potential Federal activity, but where the hazard posed is not sufficiently significant or time-critical for the site to be placed on the NPL.

Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)
The TRI System (TRIS) contains data submitted to EPA by regulated facilities concerning chemicals and chemical categories listed by the Agency under Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. Data contained in the system include chemicals present, amount of on-site use, releases and off-site transfers (including Publicly-Owned Treatment Works, POTWs), on-site treatment, and minimization/prevention actions. TRIS contains information about releases and transfers of more than 600 toxic chemicals and compounds to the environment. We have included data for TRI facilities that reported their 1997 releases and transfers. Further data and information about the facility and chemicals released and transferred are provided through links to RTK Net.

Hazardous Waste Facilities
Information contained in the Hazardous Waste information is taken from the EPA Biennial Reporting System (BRS). It contains information on facilities that treat, store, or dispose (TSD) of RCRA hazardous wastes or are classified as Large Quantity Generators (LQGs) under RCRA. A RCRA hazardous waste is a waste that is both (a) described by one or more federal RCRA waste codes, and (b) is not exempted from RCRA regulations. RCRA classifies as LQG a facility that either (a) generated 1,000 kg or more of RCRA hazardous waste in a single month; (b) generated in a single month or accumulated at any time 1 kg of RCRA acute hazardous waste; or (c) generated or accumulated at any time more than 100 kg of spill clean up material contaminated with a RCRA acute hazardous waste. Reports for those facilities identified by EPA as "Waste Managers" list amount and type of disposal.

AIRS Facilities
EPA's Office of Air and Radiation stores information on air quality, point source emissions, and area/mobile source data required by federal regulation from the 50 states in its Aerometric Information Retrieval System (AIRS). States are required by the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to report to EPA annual emissions estimates for point sources emitting greater than or equal to 100 tons per year of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), particulate matter less than 10 microns in size (PM-10); 1000 tons per year of carbon monoxide (CO); or 5 tons per year of lead (Pb). The Clean Air Act Amendments also require states to report emissions data for point sources in areas where air pollution exceeds Federal standards (nonattainment areas).

Please note that this website does NOT provide the Offsite Consequence Analysis section of the Risk Management Plans as provided by law. Please see our resources for more about this important issue.