10 years of NH3 and CL2 release data (2004-2014)

Last week I shared an article from allgov.com that provided some data on Ammonia releases.  The article was not well received by some folks and others appreciated the info, which is par for the course when you post this kind of material.  But some have gone off the deep-end and called the article “spin” and “propaganda” against ammonia.  For the record, the article’s data was NOT 100% factual, but as it turns out it was actually MORE FAVORABLE to ammonia than what my data analysis shows.  The allgov.com article appears to have used other sources, but I used the following sources for my data:

• Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES)
• National Toxic Substance Incidents Program (NTSIP)
• The United States Coast Guard National Response Center
• The Right-to-Know Network, RMP Data Base

This posting is to provide factual numbers for the two most widely used PSM/RMP chemicals (NH3 and CL2) and compare uncontrolled releases from their primary containment.

To put things into perspective Anhydrous Ammonia (NH3) and Chlorine (CL2) are the two most widely reported RMP chemicals.  Here is the data (as of 8/2014) from the RMP database:

Using the RMP Database (as of 8/2014), I looked at the 5-year accident histories as a means to provide us some idea as to the IMPACT SEVERITY of these two materials on communities:

• 67 RMPs have a 5-year accident history associated with them
• 20 of these 5-year accidents resulted in DEATHS
• 10 of the 20 FATAL 5-year accidents involved NH3 (50%)
• 0 of the 20 FATAL 5-year accidents involved CL2 (0%)

Using the USCG National Response Center Data for 2014 (as of 8/2014) and 2013 here is a breakdown of RELEASES reported to the USCG National Response Center for these materials:

NOTE:  I only looked at these three (3) years so as to gather some reliable data for 2012-2014, as the other databases I used have only been updated thru 2011.

Using the Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) and National Toxic Substance Incidents Program (NTSIP) databases, these are the results of my analysis.  Please NOTE that from 1995-2009 the “official” database was the Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES).  In 2010 a new database was started and its called National Toxic Substance Incidents Program (NTSIP).  BOTH of these databases have a MAJOR LIMITING FACTOR to their data in that only a few states participate in reporting the release data.  Some years as few as seven (7) states reported data and some years as many as fourteen (14) states reported.  I would also like to point out that my analysis ONLY included “FIXED FACILITIES”; I did NOT include transportation incidents, but each year there are hundreds of releases that “Occurred during unloading of a stationary vehicle or vessel”.  I just have no way of knowing if these incidents involved NH3 or CL2.  I did post some data in 2012 on UNLOADING INCIDENTs if you are looking for data on HAZMAT UNLOADING incidents.