III 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 919 

Recognizing the 40th year since the 1984 Bhopal chemical disaster and 

helping to ensure that no other community suffers another chemical 

disaster, by designating December 3 as National Chemical Disaster 

Awareness Day. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 3, 2024 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. WELCH) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the 40th year since the 1984 Bhopal chemical 

disaster and helping to ensure that no other community 

suffers another chemical disaster, by designating December 3 as National Chemical Disaster Awareness Day. 

Whereas, on December 3, 1984, a Union Carbide pesticide 

factory released a dense cloud of toxic methyl isocyanate 

gas into the Indian city of Bhopal, killing 8,000 people 

within 72 hours and permanently injuring 500,000 more 

in what is considered to be the world’s worst industrial 

disaster; 

Whereas this catastrophic chemical leak in Bhopal strongly 

influenced the Government of the United States to protect communities from toxic exposure by enacting legislation such as the Superfund Amendments and ReauthorVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:22 Dec 04, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR919.IS SR919

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•SRES 919 IS 

ization Act of 1986 (Public Law 99–499; 100 Stat. 

1613), the Emergency Planning and Community RightTo-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), which 

authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to establish and maintain a Toxic Release Inventory, and the 

Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (Public Law 101– 

549; 104 Stat. 2576), which authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to implement the Risk Management Program and established the Chemical Safety 

and Hazard Investigation Board (referred to in this preamble as the ‘‘CSB’’), and prescribing regulations such 

as the Process Safety Management standard published by 

the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 

1992; 

Whereas major risks to the public remain, with approximately 

12,000 hazardous industrial and commercial facilities 

across the United States, putting some 131,000,000 people at risk for toxic exposures resulting from any lapses 

which lead to dangerous conditions or procedures; 

Whereas a CSB investigation identified dangerous conditions 

and deficiencies as responsible for a 2008 explosion at a 

pesticide manufacturing plant at Institute, West Virginia, 

which came so close to igniting a stockpile of methyl 

isocyanate that a Congressional inquiry concluded that it 

could easily have been ‘‘a catastrophe rivaling the Bhopal 

disaster’’; 

Whereas data received from the CSB’s Accidental Release 

Reporting Rule indicates 445 hazardous chemical incidents, including fires, explosions, and harmful chemical 

releases, occurred in the United States between April 

2021 and October 2024; 


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Whereas these hazardous chemical incidents include a train 

derailment near East Palestine, Ohio, that released ethyl 

hexyl acrylate, isobutylene, and vinyl chloride into nearby 

air, soil, and water, requiring the emergency evacuation 

of over 2,000 residents, who now face ongoing health 

issues; 

Whereas the health and economic impacts of chemical disasters have multigenerational effects, such as in Bhopal 

where survivors suffer significantly higher mortality 

rates, with over 150,000 survivors battling chronic illnesses related to their exposure or that of their parents, 

and approximately 500,000 people remain physically and 

economically devastated by the disaster; 

Whereas a University of San Diego study found that men 

who were in utero in Bhopal at the time of the disaster 

have higher rates of cancer and disability precluding employment, and lower levels of education; 

Whereas the Bhopal disaster survivors have undertaken hundreds of protests and dozens of legal petitions for adequate compensation, medical care, rehabilitation, and 

criminal justice, and to achieve their goal of establishing 

a serious deterrent against the possibility of other Bhopal-level disasters; 

Whereas the Government of India charged Union Carbide 

and its former Chief Executive Officer Warren Anderson 

with culpable homicide, equivalent to criminally negligent 

manslaughter under United States law and an extraditable offense; 

Whereas Union Carbide and its representatives have ignored 

repeated summonses to appear in court in India, and applications under 2 extradition treaties between India and 


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the United States dating back to 1942 have failed to secure their appearance; 

Whereas Dow Inc., the owner of Union Carbide since 2001, 

has not compelled its subsidiary to attend any proceedings relating to the Bhopal disaster; 

Whereas, regarding the Bhopal disaster, Amnesty International states that ‘‘The indifference and disdain with 

which the survivors and their descendants have been 

treated ever since the gas leak, the lack of proper and effective accountability of both state and corporate actors 

for both the gas leak and ongoing contamination, and the 

failure to ensure a reparations programme that adequately addresses all past and ongoing harms have been 

enabled by entrenched environmental racism’’, in which 

the people who inhabit industrial ‘‘sacrifice zones’’ are 

treated ‘‘as disposable, their voices ignored, their presence excluded from decision-making processes and their 

dignity and human rights trampled upon’’; 

Whereas United States Census data shows that census tracts 

where people of color are the majority experience 40 percent more cancer-causing industrial air pollution and are 

twice as likely to get cancer from toxic air pollution compared to census tracts where White people are the majority, and the majority of residents near facilities where accidents occur are from historically underserved and overburdened populations; and 

Whereas the centrality of human rights to the foreign policy 

of the United States and the commitment of the United 

States to the right to freedom from discrimination are in 

line with the goal of safeguarding against future chemical 

disasters, which disproportionately impact vulnerable 

communities: Now, therefore, be it 


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1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) recognizes the 40-year effort of the sur3 vivors of the 1984 Bhopal chemical disaster to en4 sure that no other community around the world suf5 fers another Bhopal-level disaster by designating De6 cember 3 as National Chemical Disaster Awareness 

7 Day; 

8 (2) applauds the resilience of the Bhopal chem9 ical disaster survivors in battling to overcome ill 

10 health, poverty, and marginalization to try to estab11 lish a deterrent against future chemical disasters; 

12 (3) calls on the Department of Justice to 

13 take— 

14 (A) timely steps in response to requests by 

15 the Indian Government concerning Dow Inc., 

16 who purchased the Union Carbide facility where 

17 the disaster took place; and 

18 (B) any other actions necessary for the 

19 United States to comply with obligations under 

20 the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in 

21 Criminal Matters, signed at New Delhi on Octo22 ber 17, 2001 (TIAS 05–1003); 

23 (4) seeks to engage with the survivors of the 

24 Bhopal chemical disaster to strengthen the public’s 


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1 understanding of the dangers of chemical disasters; 

2 and 

3 (5) emphasizes that supporting human rights 

4 and protecting the right to freedom from discrimina5 tion are and should remain key pillars of United 

6 States foreign policy worldwide. 

Æ 


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