The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) have filed comments on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed amendments to the Risk Management Programme (RMP) of the Clean Air Act, asking it to withdraw the proposal. The AFPM’s President Chet Thompson expressed the following concerns with the proposal:
“The EPA rushed forward with a number of proposed amendments that will undoubtedly cause confusion, impose undue burdens, and saddle the regulated community with excessive paperwork exercises. These changes will levy a series of unlawful, arbitrary, and costly obligations on RMP facilities, while doing nothing to prevent offsite releases or otherwise improve protections to the environment and general public.”
The AFPM’s comments review how the proposed changes fail to provide any evidence of systemic problems with the RMP programme, but instead add requirements to RMP covered facilities that would inhibit safety innovations, require unlawful reporting to EPA, and could increase security concerns in the surrounding communities.
Adapted from press release by Francesca Brindle