Small Town USA Environment Lost

The windows in the hospital were wet with summer raindrops. Sean was sitting in his room watching a television reporter standing in front of a charred chemical plant that was now empty. The air was visibly brownish and smoggy.

"This was truly a Worst Case Scenario. The residents of Wilburn, who recently endured a terrible train wreck, which killed hundreds of residents in town and spilled toxic materials for over two miles, suffered a second disaster last night. A series of explosions released hundreds of thousands of pounds of toxic chemicals stored at the OC Chemicals plant into the nearby river, air and soil. The FBI is investigating a major terrorist plot and there have been arrests. Details are not yet being released to the public. "Fortunately, there were few injuries this time, because the plant is a few miles from town. However, all residents with asthma and other ailments were told to leave town and move to a hotel several miles away, where the government is setting up a shelter. Even the dead had to be handled with special care because the toxic bodies could not be buried in cemeteries but must be interred in special sites equipped to handle the hazardous chemicals trapped in their corpses. "But the massive spills will plague this town for years. The force of the explosions has spread the material far and wide, and it will be deposited over fields, rivers, soil, and homes. Many farmers might lose their livelihood because the contaminated soil can't be used to produce food or raise livestock. "Harry Jones is the director of the HazMat team that responded to the *train wreck emergency three weeks ago. He is now back at Wilburn responding to an even larger toxic spill. Mr. Jones, can you tell us about the accident, and the long-term effects to this community?" Harry wiped his forehead and removed the mask hanging from this face and spoke directly into the camera. "This is the largest spill of the kind ever experienced in the United States. Half of the one point two million gallons of chemicals stored in this plant have been released into the environment. The force of the explosions has spread them over a large area. Cleanup will take a long time and cost taxpayers billions. But, even with the best techniques, we'll never be able to clean it all up. Towns as far as 20 miles downwind are smelling the chemicals, and residents have been told to stay inside and take children and the elderly who suffer from asthma or other ailments to visit relatives or to shelters in other towns." "What is going to happen when it rains?" asked the reporter. "We're fighting the clock here. It's beginning to rain now, as you can see. Rainwater will wash more of the chemicals into the streams and eventually the river. What we are trying to do is divert rainwater to ditches so we can pump as much of it as possible into containers for cleanup and neutralization. Already there have been huge fish kills from chemicals that settled in the water after the explosions. "With the previous accident, we were able to stop the leakage from the train wreck and save the river, but this incident is just too large a spill and we couldn't stop the rivers from being contaminated. Unfortunately this river discharges into the ocean, where pollution will affect fishing for years to come. What happened here is equivalent to what happened in Kosovo, when refineries were bombed and materials spilled into the Danube. It is truly an environmental crime of the worst kind." The reporter looked at Harry as if he had just had touched the most politically incorrect topic on his list. "You say this was a crime? Do you mean this wasn't an accident Mr. Jones?" "Accidents like this don't just happen. This was a criminal act. The perpetrators have been identified and arrested, but unfortunately the authorities couldn't stop them before much of the damage was done. The plant didn't have enough security to stop the men who were working on the inside, creating the explosions." "What was the motive? Was it a politically or racially motivated?" "I'm not allowed to talk about the nature of the crime or the motives. The FBI will release details at a later time. But while I'm not allowed to discuss motives, I can say that we need laws to protect citizens from this kind of incident. Chemical plants are time bombs open to any freak who wants to blow them up. Most are safe, but security is lax in too many areas. Past regulations have been inadequate, asking companies to police themselves. Regulations such as the Process Safety Management and Risk Management Plans require only paperwork. Safety is up to each plant. We see here how inadequate these regulations are in preventing criminal actions by terrorists." "Thank you Mr. Jones. And that concludes this report on the Wilburn accident, or maybe as we just heard the Wilburn 'terrorist incident'. Back in the studio, we are interviewing George Reed, a local reporter who has written extensively on these incidents. Mr. Reed will soon be releasing his book, 'Worst Case Scenario,' the story of the conspiracy that led to the worst chemical disasters in US history."