I don't live near these chemical plants, but whenever I've flown out of Newark Airport I've seen these chemical plants. It's not what the entire state looks like, but their near northern NJ towns and NYC. It's quite insane and inexcusable to have not inspected and guarded these plants after 9/11. I think it's just another reason to believe the BOOSH ADMINISTRATION CARES NOTHING FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE INEXCUSABLE!! THE OIL COMPANIES DON'T CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT OR AMERICAN PEOPLE EITHER! If I lived near any of these plants, I WOULD CONSIDER MOVING NOW.



http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... 7702210350 -


New Jersey group: Feds not inspecting chemical plants
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/21/07
BY TOM BALDWIN
GANNETT STATE BUREAU

TRENTON — A New Jersey group critical that the Bush administration is trying to prevent New Jersey from writing tougher chemical security standards lodged a complaint Tuesday alleging the federal government is failing to conduct plant safety inspections.

"The potential danger to workers and communities — whether from unintentional accidents or an intentional terrorist attack — requires your immediate action," said the Work Environment Council, a coalition of labor, community and environmental groups.

The group wrote to Patricia Clark, regional administrator of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, saying OSHA isn't doing enough of the follow-up inspections needed to enforce safety management standards.

The group said that of 21 facilities in New Jersey where incidents could potentially harm 15,000 people or more, only eight had been inspected by federal officials since the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Six of those 21 facilities have never had an OSHA inspection, the group wrote, including facilities that could imperil between 20,000 and 500,000 people in Union and Hudson counties in the north and Gloucester and Salem counties along the Delaware River south of Philadelphia.

The letter cited a chemical plant in South Kearny, in the shadow of New York, Newark and Jersey City skylines, where chlorine is handled. It has not been federally inspected since Sept. 12, 1997.

Kate Dugan, a spokeswoman for OSHA, said, "We are reviewing and verifying the information in the letter." She would not elaborate but promised to make public Clark's response when it becomes available.

In Washington, lawmakers from New Jersey are trying to convince the Department of Homeland Security that New Jersey should have the right to put in place security rules covering its chemical plants that are tougher than federal regulations.

For its part, Homeland Security has proposed pre-empting state laws.

Some 140 chemical and other so-called hazardous-material plants operate in New Jersey, which is the nation's most densely populated state.

The FBI labels the oil- and chemical-rich corridor alongside Newark Liberty International Airport the most dangerous two miles in the country; 12 million people live nearby in New York and New Jersey.