Executive Order 13650 Public Listening Session, Houston, TX

Date: January 23 , 2014 (Evening Session)

Location: Hartman Community Center, 9311 E Avenue P, Houston, TX 77012

Introduction and Opening Remarks

Patrick White , Moderator, introduced the proceedings:

• Welcomed everyone to the listening session and introduced the panel.

• Mentioned future listening sessions and W ebinars.

• Written comments can be provided to eo.chemical@hq.dhs.gov . These comments will be included in the docket

.

• Announcements :

o Please put phones on vibrate

. o Session is being recorded for note

- taking purposes

. o The facility’s e mergency exit information and restroom locations wer e provided

.

• Purpose: Provide stakeholders an overview of the Executive Order 13650: Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security ( EO ) progress to date a nd provide an opportunity for the public to provide comments, feedback, and suggestions

.
Scott B reor , Deputy Director, Infrastructure Security Compliance Division, Office of Infrastructure Protection, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) :

• We are here to listen to you

. We held listening sessions in Orlando, FL ; S pringfield, IL ; and Los Angeles, CA and two sessions in the National Capitol Region. We are planning sessions in New York/New Jersey and Baton Rouge, LA.

• Chemical safety and security is a complex subject area. We have heard from more than 1,200 people who have participated.

• I am retired from the military. I have had the philosop hy of “ limited vision, bad deci s i on

. ” We know that we don’t know everything.

• DHS has a security focus, but that is different from other agencies. That is different from the focus of the DHS U

. S . Coast Guard , the Occu pational Safety and Health Administration ( OSHA ) , and the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) . There a re different ways to approach this, and there are varied perspectives.

• W e appreciate your taking the time to speak with us today , and we value your comments.

Lisa L ong, Director, Office of Engineering Safety, OSHA, U

. S

. Department of Labor:

• Welcome on behalf of the Department of Labor.

• At OSHA, we are primarily concerned with process safety.

EO 13650 Public Listening Session Page 1 January 23, 2014 Houston, TX (Evening Session)• You will hear later about an options do cument that we have prepared.

Monica Smith, EPA:

• On behalf of EPA and Region VI , we welcome you and thank you for coming tonight.

• I see many faces that I saw in the Texas City session. I am glad to see such a strong interest in chemical facility safety. We look forward to your comments.

Lisa L ong provided a brief summary of the options d ocument, “ E xecutive Order 13650, S ection A

– Solicitation of Public Input on Options for Policy Regulation and Standards Modernization ,” located at: https://www.osha.go v/chemicalexecutiveorder/Section_6ai_Options_List.html

. Richard Moore, Director, Los Jardines Institute, provided the following comments:

• I wanted to keep my comments brief today , as we will also be joining the listening session
tomorrow.

• I want to congratulate those brothers and sist ers of the environmental justice community here today . You are an exceptional group of people who have been fighting these issues for years.

• I come from a community in New Mexico that is similar to the community of Man chester in that our community is also surrounded by chemical facilities. We appreciate the work you are all doing. Thank you for allowing us to use your community center to hold this meeting here today.

• All of us in this room are aware of the kind of is sues we have been dealing with for many years. In Albuquerque, we a re surrounded by facilities, such as chemical facilities and the sewage treatment facility.

• We have a long history of working with workers inside the facilities, as well as those who live in the communities. This effort is just as important to both sides.

• DHS is referred to as “ the Department of Homeland Insecurity. ” I say that with all respect; it would be great if you could spend less time taking pictures of us while we are taking pictu res of facilities during incidents and if you could just do your job. W e want to be able to call you “ the Department of Homeland Security. ” You have more to prove to us than we have to prove to you. We have seen no action in our neighborhood. It i s jus t as much about securing the facilities as it is about the health and safety of those surrounding the facilities.

• We can go on an d on with examples of incidents throughout the country. Even though the EO specifically describes West, Texas , this region co ntains many of the largest and most dangerous facilities in the country.

• You have a responsibility to live up to your mission statement.

• We a re in the process of drafting an entire list of recommendations. At the end of the day, we hope that this is not a waste of time.

• We’ ve provided feedback, letters, and input in the past , but we have not seen justice. We are not asking for justice. We demand justice.

• We have lived this all of our lives.

EO 13650 Public Listening Session Page 2 January 23, 2014 Houston, TX (Evening Session)• At the end of the day, you all do not have a history of working together. OSHA has not worked with DHS. DHS has not worked with EPA, and so on

. You all need to communicate with each other and to the communities you serve.

• Again, you have more to prove to us than we have to prove to you.

• If there were an accident at a facility in this community tonight, you too would be forced to live the same existence we are forced to live every day.

• Scott Breor provided a clarifying comment: Under the Executive O rder , we are being held to a very tight tim eline. If you have recommendations to submit, we ask that you submit them as soon as possible to assist us with our May deliverable timeline.

Shell e y Espinoza , Hunting Titan, provided the following comments:

• We are a global manufacturer and distributor of oil field equipment, including explosive devices.

• Our plant is 30 miles from West, Texas. We lost one employee and the son of another.

• We hold the security and safety of our products as a corporate imperative.

• We are highly regulated by DHS, the Depar tment of Transportation , EPA, and OSHA.

• We have ne ver had a worker fatality , and we are known to partner with our local responders.

• We are a member of Institute of Makers of Explosives (IME) . We endors e the r ecommendations they have made to the committee.

• OSHA ’ s E xplosives and B lasting A gents standard is antiquated . In 2002, IME petitioned OSHA to update the explosives provisions of this standard. In 2007, OSHA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) , but in 2010 it was withdrawn , stating that the Process Safety Management ( PSM ) standard and the General Duty Clause authorities were adequate for addressing concerns of explosives in the workplace. We disagree with that assertion

.

• If the E xplosives and B lasting A gents standard is to remain relevan t , it needs to be updated. If an update is not feasible, then the standard needs to be eliminated in favor of the PSM program.

• We support direct information sharing and coordination with S tate, local , and tribal emergency response committees. However, we cannot support providing security sensitive information to these entities.

• The vision of the Local Emergency Planning Committees ( LEPCs ) has never been realized. EPA ’ s own assessment shows a patchwork of largely dysfunctional LEPCs, especially in communi ties relying upon volunteer fire response. It would be irresponsible to entrust security sensitive information to these commissions.

• Our company, and others in the same industry, is required to vet employees. We are committed
to protecting our products. We ask the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm s , and Explosives ( ATF ) and DHS to embrace the per sonnel vetting process adopted by the White House in 2010: Enroll once and use many.

• Hun t ing Titan supports G overnment action to give ATF the authorit y to re
- vet names against the Terrorist Screening Database ( TSDB ) as circumstances warrant . Right now, it can only be done

EO 13650 Public Listening Session Page 3 January 23, 2014 Houston, TX (Evening Session)when there is a change in employment or when a name is resubmitted by a company. We believe giving ATF the opportunity to conduct random che cks will significantly enhance security.
Johnathan Quavas, p rivate c itizen , provided the following comments:

• Since graduating from college, I have had plenty of employment opportunities , especially from companies that are keeping up with the safety of the ir neighborhood. That is the emphasis of our meeting here today.

• When it comes to the safety of our community, we need people to get messages out

.

• These companies do not really care about the next picture they will see. They want to have workers, and tha t is it.

• In a successful business, it is important to ensure that there are safe practices in use. When companies have accidents, it is clear that they are unaware of what is going in inside their facilities.

• Companies need to recognize that their neighbors come first.
Juan Paras, Executive Director, Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (TEJAS) , provided the following comments:

• You have been given a very important mission to go out and hear from these communities. I ask that you pay partic ular attention to the environmental justice communitie s.

• You should take a ride around this community. You will find that it is surrounded by industry.

• If the fertilizer facility here were to have an incident, it would have an impact on an area of 25 mi les, even greater than the West, Texas incident.

• We are seeing a great deal of port expansion. Industry is buying more land, which is bringing indu stry closer to these communitie s.

• We would like for you to consider that there needs to be a mechanism to deal with reloca tion needs. If communities have no where to go, they need to be relocated.

• This community is constantly exposed to eight cancer
- causing chemicals. No other community we know has exposure to this many cancer

- causing chemicals on a daily ba sis.

• There are several schools in this community.

• We have been talking about these issues for a very long time. These issues are nothing new to any of the agencies represented here today.

• We see efforts to provide security for these facilities, but we d on’t see security being provided for our community.

• We have been detained while taking pictures of the facilities in our community . We are told it is in the interest of homeland security, but it is not. We are simply trying to understand what is happenin g at the facility.

• I want to thank you all for coming here today.
Mathy Stanislaus, Assistant Administrator, EPA, arrived and addressed the meeting attendants :
EO 13650 Public Listening Session Page 4 January 23, 2014 Houston, TX (Evening Session)• I am here to listen , and I look forward to hearing what you have to say

. Hillary Corg ey, priva te citizen , Austin, Texas, provided the following comments:

• I may have misheard, but I thought she [ r eferring to Espinoza ] said that chemicals should not be disclosed to LEPCs. I may have heard that wrong, but I see that as a huge issue. If chemicals are too dangerous to disclose to emergency managers, then they are too dangerous to have in the community.

• I have a M aster ’s degree in P olitical S cience with a focus in S ecurity.

• I am from Aldine. When growing up in that area, I had asthma and other breath ing problems. Many of us are prone to cancer , asthma , and similar issues

.

• Near Aldine, there was a superfund site. They dumped waste oil on the property . It is unclear whether this chemical got into our water. The test is $400. My grandfather cannot afford that with his S ocial S ecurity check.

• When you look across the street, there is a Valero refinery belching out chemicals all day every day, while chi ldren play in the foreground.

• We need reform. There are 60,000 chemicals that are grandfathered in. That needs to be fixed.

• We need funding for LEPCs. We recommend a per

- container fee on hazardous shipments and a nominal fee on EPA Tier II reports. I will address this in greater detail when I address the panel
tomorrow.

• To those here today : thank you for coming. And thanks to those at DHS, EPA, and OSHA for being here.

• Scott Breor provided a clarifying comment: Providing information to the LEPCs is something directly mentioned in the EO , and we are looking at it. We are taking it seriously.
Michelle Roberts, Co

- coor d inator of Environmental Justic e and Heal t h Alliance, provided the following
comments:

• Thank you for holding this listening session here in the Manchester community. Also, thank you to the Manchester community for hosting us here this evening.

• Mr. Breor, I heard your earlier comments requesting that our feedback be sent to you as soon as possible, but please understand that we have been dea ling with explosions and several other incidents since Christmas.

• We need real

- time, real

- engagement with residents and workers who have been affected by incidents at these facilities.

• The concept of shelter

- in

- place is very disturbing.

• We need better coo rdination of S tate agencies. DHS operates as if it is not part of the F ederal family.

• All of the agencies represented here today need to work together.

EO 13650 Public Listening Session Page 5 January 23, 2014 Houston, TX (Evening Session)• I have served as a first responder. Do you know what it’s like to respond to a chlorine gas leak? We need better training for first responders.

• How can you place 27 schools within the danger zone of a chemical facility, forcing them to shelter

- in

- place in the event of an incident?

• I have had sinus issues and headaches and know what it i s like to live in c ommunities like Manchester.

Liana Lopez, Texas Environmental Justice and Advocacy Service (TEJAS) , provided the following
comments:

• I started studying environmental issues after the BP oil disaster. I then learned more about the Keystone XL P ipeline and t he tar sands process. That process is now being brought here to Houston.

• As I’ve covered more issues , I’m ama zed, shocked, and horrified by the stories I’ve uncovered.

• I’ve studied the sinkhole in Louisiana

. The chemicals released from that sinkhole have forced evacuations , and in some cases residents have been unable to return for more than a year.

• There have been train derailments and explosions. Carrying tar sands through various transportation methods is risky , as a release would not be able to be c leaned up.

• There are harmful chemicals that go through lengthy legal processes to be banned, but these companies then make a minor change in the chemical ; then the process has to repeat itself.

• I recently learned that Cesar Chavez High School was allowed t o be built in the kill zone of a local facility here. If something happens, these children have no chance of survival at that school.

• The residents here are often awakened by explosions, alarms, and other unknown incidents. No one explains what is happening.

• In West Virginia, a recent incident has made it so residents cannot bathe in their own water. They are now being told that there is a second chemical in the water. This was after people were told that the water is safe to drink.

• The company involved in the West Virginia incident has already declared bankruptcy. Where is the accountability?

Judith Nathim, P rivate C itizen, provided the following comments:

• We have booms here every day. I don’t know if someone let the industry know that you were going to be here because there have been no booms here tonight. If you stay long enough, you will hear and feel them.

• I do no t know what process they have for letting the community know what is happening. Our foundations and walls are cra cking.

• These refineries and industries are not letting us know the processes they are using to store and use these chemicals.

EO 13650 Public Listening Session Page 6 January 23, 2014 Houston, TX (Evening Session)• A few months ago, there was a leak in an 18

- wheeler that was carrying phosphoric acid. They claimed that they had an evacuation, but no one in the community was aware.

• I called some of the refineries to find out about the booms and to find out if there have been any leaks. I called late one night, and a worker that told me that there was a leak in a pipeline just down the street th at had been going on for two weeks and that they were not able to fix it. No one is letting us know what is happening.

• There are not many people here tonight because people are not being educated on what is happening and how to be involved.

• Schools are not being told when there is a leak.

• I remember training in school for shelter

- in

- place and taking shelter under our desks. We have since lea rn ed that those drills would not have saved us, so they are no longer doing that training.

• On 9/11, the teachers in New York were told to send their children hom e. I was living here and learned later that Houston and our local communities were targets. If they had been sent home he re , they would have returned to a more dangerous environment.

• My recommendations would be to have an emergency line to notify communities when there is a leak, explosion , or emergency. We have a right to know.

• Regarding planning and community involvement, t here should be better education with communities and local organizations to co nduct educational workshops.

• Please take a close look at Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and see how we can use that to better regulate those industries that fail to account for the members of their communities.

• It is sad that communities like Manchest er are the first to know about emergencies but the last to know about these listening sessions

.

• Mr. Stanislaus asked a clarifying question : Is the community not getting notification, or are there little

- to

- no notifications?

o Ms. Nathim responded : There is l ittle

- to

- no notification. We do not get notified. There is an alarm every day that they say is a test. However, when there is a leak, that alarm does not sound. We know about the booms, but the facilities here cannot say if it i s from them.

De lma r Benn et, Environmental Action Now, provided the following comments:

• We had an i ssue last week with a plant explosion. We have whistles that blow 12 o’clock every Tuesday to warn us of a practice drill. They said there was word of an explosion at Exxon, but I never received word. M ay be it was on TV, but I don’t have a TV in my car.

• Regardless of what happens, it i s about money. Fossil fuels are causing the problems. Because fossil fuels benefit our life, the people who produce it are no t causing the problem; w e a re because we use it.

• I ha ve been experiencing headaches since I ha ve been here. I do no t normally get headaches, but when I ha ve been here, I ha ve had them.

EO 13650 Public Listening Session Page 7 January 23, 2014 Houston, TX (Evening Session)• Being from Moorsville, I could no t imagine what I saw here. They say it i s just steam, but something has to be mixed with that steam. On a cloudy, rainy day like today, this community gets the bulk of what is coming out of those stacks because the air can not take it anywhere else.

• L ast year , Exxon had a leaking pipe. They pu t a band

- aid on it. The following year , they had an explosion at the same pipeline. Why? They know these pipes have been here 30 to 40 years, and nothing lasts forever.

• Why aren’t there any toxic allergies in areas where there are factories? Why can’t people determine what kinds of toxic substances are in these people? We do no t have anyone who can tell us what i s in our bodies.

• You can b ring it to the P resident; I know it i s not easy to just tell people to stop this or that. We

can lose a few lives, but we can not lose a bunch of money. [ said with sarcasm ]

• DHS, I di d no t mind you holding me up in the car for 2 hours when I was taking pictures of the plant near my house. It made me feel important.
Adrian Shelley, Executive D irector, A ir A lliance Houst on, provided the following comments:

• The bulk of my recommendations will be coming tomorrow.

• I want to thank the citizens of Manchester for hosting us here tonight.

• We a re hearing a lot of the emotion and frustration coming across the table. I know the

s ignificance of that is not lost on you.

• If you ha ve experienced headaches like us, or have been stuck behind a train like us, I know that has not been lost on you.

• I want to provide some comments regarding a question Mr. Stanislaus asked about notifications. There are certain notification schemes in place with varied degrees of efficacy. There is a shelter

- in

- place alarm that is met with people coming outside and g oing into the streets because people want to see the incident for themselves.

• There are reverse 911 systems in some communities. In many cases, they only apply to landlines, and they are often underutilized. If there are options for mobile phone users to opt

in, they are likely unaware of it.

• There is an industry

- sponsored phone service here called Careline. Careline is a useless service. It is an answering machine message that , regardless of the reality, says every day that there are no incidents in your community.

• It was first announced that Careline would be online o n Dec ember 3, but that launch was delayed.

• I know that this is one of the sessions th at has been added in response to the feedback that you ha ve received so far. This listening sessio n is one of them. I a m grateful to you for holding this meeting here today.

• Unfortunately, there are communities that cannot be made safe. These are older communities that pre
- date the chemical industry.

EO 13650 Public Listening Session Page 8 January 23, 2014 Houston, TX (Evening Session)• Many of the recommendations you are hearing indi cate that the focus needs to be on the power and legislative authority that you a lready have

. You do no t have the resource to fund the LEPCs. The funding is not in communities like Manchester , , but rather in the communities around places like Manchester

. For example, communities towards the Port area have more resources and benefit from Manchester’s sacrifices.

• Mr. Stanislaus asked a clarifying question : What is the opportunity for welcoming residents to participate in local emergency planning efforts?

o Mr. Shelley responded : That is a g ood question. Perhaps others could also comment on this. In many cases, the LEPCs are underfunded or even defunct . I doubt that there are many people here who have had engagement with their LEPCs.
Maria Salva, private citizen, provided the following comments:

• When I was in elementary school, I remember learning that I had the freedom to swing my arms, but that my freedom ended at the other guy’s nose. Industry continuously punches us in the nose. We expect G overnment agencies, like the EPA, to provide us with protection. Instead , we have the Governor of Texas slowing down the EPA from enforcing existing rules. We want G overnment rules and regulations because we are being trampled upon.

• I ha ve been in this community t alking to people who have friends or family members who have died or are dying. I ha ve never been around so many people who know of so many who are dying or have died.

• I know other people who have shared other problems, like having a film that is eating t he paint off their car.

• Without Federal enforcement of these existing regulations, this is the kind of exposure we a re experiencing

.

• We are literally sick and tired of what we are being exposed to. We are not being heard.

• I am a member of two groups: N o K eystone XL and Voices Against T ar S ands. What I hear on the

news are blatant lies and corporate propaganda that gets broadcast as news.

• I would ask that you not take industry propaganda as fact. Do your own res earch. Verify the claims, a nd seek an opposing viewpoint if industry presents you with something.

• The last thing I want to say is that i n Houston, freezing weather is rare. The weather tonight and tomorrow is going to be dangerous. This will affect the turnout of these sessions.
Hyman Leon, p rivate citizen, provided the following comments:

• I a m a regular guy, living a regular life. I thought I was living in a regular community.

• I grew up in California. I moved because I hated the earthquakes, but now I have frequent earthquakes here in my bac kyard.

• I am very disappointed with living in Manchester. Every day, my car is covered in metal dust.

• I have had a pancreas and kidney transplant.

EO 13650 Public Listening Session Page 9 January 23, 2014 Houston, TX (Evening Session)• We a re breathing all this metal dust, so we a re all going to get cancer. We a re just regular people. We a re not high tax payers, so w ho cares if we get cancer?

• The alarms never turn on when they are supposed to. They test the alarms to pass the inspections, and that is all.

• It i s too late to look for a safety drill. We shouldn’t be living in this area.

• With my poor health, I do what I can to get by. I can no t sell my home because of the pollution and booms.

• The headlines today mention a person who was killed in Texas by lethal injection, but we are all being poisoned to death here each day.

• S ome people i n this neighborhood are old or poor and cannot afford to live elsewhere.

• The residents here need to be bought out so they can move and live somewhere else.

• When my wife goes to Mexico for 15 days, she feels fine. When she comes back, she is sick again with breathing problems.

• Even the local cable company does not care about us. I tried to order cable the other day and was told that service was not available in my area.

Nieves Hernandez , private citizen, provided the following comments through the assis tance of a translator:

• I have a question for you. What is it that you are here to do?

• The metal crushing facility has only been here for 3 years, and during this time they have ended my life. Since they opened 3 years ago , I have not been able to breathe right.

• I have been asking for help from the police, the f ire department , and the city. No one has been able to help him.

• A year ago, there was a fire at the facility. I called for emergency response , but they could not go inside the facility. Instead of going to where they could see the fire, they went to his house and said they could not go inside because the facility had not asked for help. D o we need to wait for the whole community to be up in fla mes?

• Every night there are more than two explosions coming from that facility.

• I am not able to work the way that I use to because I cannot breath anymore.

• I am not able to work efficiently because of my poor health , and I therefore need to pay workers
t o do the work that I used to do myself.

• My house was remodeled 2 years ago, but now the foundation is cracked

. I t i s sinking , and the walls are cracking; the sheetrock is cracking. Could you live in a house in that condition?

• The G overnment sees us as less than rats because we are forced to live in these conditions , and nothing is being done about it.

• Facilities in this industry are continuing to grow , and they are pushing us out like cockroaches.

• The petrochemical industry , along with other industries , is intentionally trying to push us out so they can cheaply buy the houses. What they do is wait for people to get frustrated or stop paying their taxes so they can collect their homes.
EO 13650 Public Listening Session Page 10 January 23, 2014 Houston, TX (Evening Session)Dana Moline, private citizen, provided the following comments:

• I have been living here 52 years. Are we going to have meetings over and over again until something explodes? Something needs to be done.
John Sullivan, private citizen , provided the following comments:

• I a m from Galveston. I woul d like to thank the people of Manchester for hosting this meeting tonight.

• As I was growing up, p eriodically things exploded. Back then, there was no EPA. Now we do have the EPA , but 50 years later, we are still having many of the same issues.

• Manchester, Port Arthur, and others a re examples of these communities . This really needs to be addressed.

• I was doing a project in Pasadena a few years ago. A gentleman spoke about a warehouse fire in Harris County . It was a chemical warehouse. A plume passed over the nei ghborhood. The f ire department circled and started suppressing fires outside but would not go inside because they

were not informed about what was ins ide.

• If you a re going to do something, it needs to be with teeth. We like the EPA. We like enforcement. Please make sur e that there are fines and that they are collected. Provide an incentive for equipment to be updated.

• Right now, you a re sitting in the midst of disproportionate exposure , and this community gets it every day.

Christine Vi nnick, Mossville resident, provided the following comments:

• We are about to be bought out, but they want our land for nothing.

• Georg i a G ulf had a valve leak. It was in one of their places that EPA had written up. They said it was too much money to replace the valve. It leaked for 5 years. Our lives weren’t important enough.

• For 35 years, we ha ve been in the fig ht, surrounded by 15 industries; we sit in the middle.

• The mayor said they could no t thank the plant enough for bringing the money into our communities , not thin king about one of our friends who died from a house fire because there
was not a fire hydrant near us.

• It i s about the jobs and the money; it i s not about our lives.

• I found a toxicologist in Chicago, IL. He was about to pe rform some tests but stopped. I believe that someone from industry stopped him.

• I ha ve lost my mother, father, and brothers; yet, they want to offer us the opportunity to go into debt to move away.
Bryan Paras, Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (TEJAS) , provided the following comments:

EO 13650 Public Listening Session Page 11 January 23, 2014 Houston, TX (Evening Session)• I worked in the area but was replaced by robots.

• There is another Executive O rder already in place. That’s the Environmental Justice Executive Order . We a re celebrating it being on the books for 20 years. The previous one has not don e much to improve the situation, so why should we put hope and effort into this one?

• We do no t have the luxury of moving out.

• We already have an Executive Order that should be helping us out. Relocation is the last resort. The community was there first.

• It i s not appropriate to ask folks to be bought out. It i s a sign that you have failed at your jobs. We need to recognize that. Do your job.

• I ha ve been app roached by Homeland Security because I was taking photos for the City of Houston to document issues with flaring at facilities. I ha ve been approached and photographed. Some of our people have even been followed. HPD, Valero security, and DHS have all f ollowed individuals to their homes to document those with who m they are speaking.

• If DHS were as good at protecting individuals from chemical as they are at deporting immigrants , maybe we woul d see a different situation. Maybe we need to focus on how to d o your job correctly

. Sophie Grapf, private citizen, provided the following comments:

• I would like to put up my own monitoring stations. I a m not trying to blow up a plant. I a m trying to document the link between flares and the times when other monitors are suspiciously not working.

• I a m trying to teach our residents how to measure particulates using nothing more than coffee cans and coffee filters

.

• Having the fines cost more than cleaning up the spill. Hit them where it hurts in the accounting departme nt . No one includes the cost of cleaning up when they determine the profits.
Jackie Young, Environmental Geologist, Texans Together, provided the following comments:

• I ha ve been able to relate to everyone who has spoken here today.

• In colleg e, I studied our water, and we were able to figure out that it was making us sick. Then it became a question of what to do about it.

• We were made to feel like the enemies.

• Residents were sent letters telling them to drink the water despite the dioxin findings.

• Doc tors do no t understand people like me. I ha ve been told that I a m toxic soup. I literally hired a doctor from outside the country because local doctors do no t know how to treat me.

• It i s no surprise why we have one of the largest and best medical centers here in Houston.

• This Executive order is crucial to the safety of those living next door to these facilities.

• The definition of terrorism is living in fear. We’re living in fear here.
Michele Roberts, Environmental Justic e and Heal t h Alliance provided the following comments:

EO 13650 Public Listening Session Page 12 January 23, 2014 Houston, TX (Evening Session)• As I told you earlier, I work with a lot of communities throughout the U nited S tates

. I have found that in many communities, the LEPC s are totally disconnected from the communities.

• I have written to the Mossville LEPC and have not heard back from them.

• We need better inspections of these facilities.

• When you a re granting permits for the next pers on to operate these facilities, there needs to b e
a full

- blown investigation to e nsure that the plant is suitable for operation.

• There should be a mandate for LEPC coordination with their communities.

Richard Moore , private citizen, provided the following comments:

• In my community, we were drinking contaminated water for more than 25 years. We were not informed that we w ere drinking contaminated water.

• For years we ha ve been demanding justice.

• The people of Manchester have done an incredible job here. They must continue that struggle until we can build strong community

- based organizations.

• Regarding t he West Virginia r esidents who recently were told not to drink and bathe in the
water : were they told after the contaminants were already in the water? How long had the contaminants been there before they were told?

• If we are expected to believe that you a re going to do th e right thing and if you all a re working together, then why would we have to question it ? I a m a believer. We started working on these issues in 1966. EPA was founded in 1970. If you were communicating with each other, you’d be aware that 20 years ago on Feb ruary 11 the Executive Order for Environmental Justice was signed.

• One of the recommendations stated in EJAC (Environmental Justice Advisory Committee) i s that when you are dealing with a predominantly Spanish

- speaking community, you should bring a translator.

• At the end of the day, it i s the simple stuff that matters

. It i s about understanding the communities that you a re supposed to be representing. If we ’ re to believe that you a re going to move forward with our recommendations, the proof will be in the pudding.

• I would encourage you to read the public participation document produced by the EJAC in response to the Executive Order for Environmental Justice.

• On behalf of my family, the organization I represent, and the members of our community, w e thank you for being here today.
Closing comments were provided by Mathy Stanislaus:

• I thank you all for coming today. I want you to know that we take these issues very seriously.

• My plan is to have a plan for the President that is actionable.

• I thank you all. My commitment is to continue to engage you all.

EO 13650 Public Listening Session Page 13 January 23, 2014 Houston, TX (Evening Session)Participant Analysis

Stakeholder Group 1/23 /2014 Houston, TX

Chemical Producer 2 Ag Supply 0 Chemical Storage 0 State/Local Regulator 0 First Responder 0 Media 3 Owner/Operator 0 Industry Association 1 Labor Organization 0 Federal Representative 4 Environment/Community 28 Consensus Organization 0 Other: 0 Citizen 18 Education 1

Security 0 Vendor 0 State/Local 0 Tribal 0 Health/Research 0 

## TOTAL (Attended In

- Person) 

## 57

Conference Call 31


## Attended (In

Person & Conf Call) 88

EO 13650 Public Listening Session Page 14 January 23, 2014 Houston, TX (Evening Session)

# Executive Order 13650 Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security
**January 23, 2014 Listening Session** 
Hosted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Labor (DoL) Location: Hartman Community Center, 9311 E Avenue P, Houston, TX 77012 

## Agenda 5:00 p.m.

– 6:00 p.m. Registration 6:00 p.m.

– 6:20 p.m. Welcome, Introductions, and Overview Patrick White, Facilitator
Mathy Stanislaus, EPA, Executive Order 13650 Working Group Co

- Chair Assistant Administrator, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response

Jordan Barab , OSHA , Executive Order 13650 Working Group Co

- Chair Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor Scott Breor, Department of Homeland Security (DHS)/ Office of Infrastructure Protection Valentina Close , Department of Justice/ Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Overview Section 6 a Lisa Long, OSHA
6:20 p.m.

– 6:30 p.m. Listening Session Format Patrick White, Facilitator

6:30 p.m.

– 7:50 p.m. Comments from Listening Session Participants

7:50 p.m.

- 8:00 p.m. Closing Remarks
Mathy Stanislaus, EPA, Executive Order 13650 Working Group Co

- Chair Assistant Administrator, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response

8:00 p.m. Adjournment
Persons may also submit written comments to NPPD/ISCD/Mailstop 0610, Department of Homeland Security, 245 Murray Lane, SW, Arlington, VA 20598

- 0610. Comments will also be accepted by email at: EO.Chemical@hq. dhs.gov or through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov

. For more information on EO 13650, please visit https://www.osha.gov/chemicalexecutiveorder/index.html and https://www.dhs.gov/topic/chemical

- security

.