EPA ANNOUNCES PUBLIC LISTENING SESSIONS ON RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN RULE
UPHE has been working with Earth Justice and other partners to put pressure on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to update the Agency’s Risk Management Plan (RMP) for fence-line communities near petrochemical plants and gas refineries. In response, the EPA has announced two upcoming virtual public listening sessions on the RMP rule. The RMP rule has been identified as an action for review under Executive Order 13990: Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science To Tackle the Climate Crisis. The listening sessions will give interested people the opportunity to present information and provide comments or views pertaining to revisions made to the RMP rule since 2017.
EPA’s RMP rule protects the health of Americans, their communities, and the environment by requiring certain industrial facilities to prevent accidental air releases of dangerous chemicals that could cause deaths, injuries, property and environmental damage, or require evacuations in surrounding communities. This rule is a critical piece of EPA’s work to address environmental justice issues as these facilities are often located in communities that have historically borne a disproportionate burden from pollution.