New EDF Tools Help Industry Neighbors Determine Y2K Safety

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) today released two checklists to help communities identify industrial facilities using hazardous chemicals that could pose serious hazards due to Y2K-related computer problems. One checklist provides plant process and financial characteristics that can help identify facilities not now Y2K-compliant; the other lists characteristics that can worsen the impacts on the public of a hazardous chemical or petroleum release. Plant neighbors can use these checklists to identify facilities that need to act now to prevent Y2K-related problems.

The US Senate committee formed to address potential Y2K problems, chaired by Senators Robert Bennett (R-UT) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT), expressed its concern this month to the President’s Council on Year 2000 Conversion about Y2K readiness within the chemical industry. The President’s Council on Year 2000 Conversion will hold a meeting on Monday, August 30, to discuss the Y2K readiness of the nation’s chemical industry.

“Time is running out for Y2K ‘fixes,’” said EDF senior engineer Lois Epstein. “Those safety measures that still can be implemented need to be implemented now. Chemical and petroleum handling facilities which cannot be made Y2K-compliant in the time remaining must develop contingency plans.”

EDF urges state governments to immediately implement programs addressing Y2K at plants handling hazardous materials like the program now in place in California. California Governor Gray Davis signed an Executive Order which directed state agencies to assess and prevent accidental releases of hazardous materials from the approximately 130,000 facilities in the state handling those materials.

“Local officials and plant neighbors can use these checklists to identify vulnerable facilities, and should carefully question plant staff about their Y2K-readiness. The chemical facilities that are of most concern are the ones with a wait-and-see attitude to the Y2K problem,” said Epstein. “Because there are no government-issued Y2K requirements, financial circumstances might play a large role in determining which companies have done everything they can to ensure they are Y2K-compliant.”

The Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national, NY-based nonprofit organization, represents 300,000 members. EDF links science, economics, and law to create innovative, equitable, and economically viable solutions to today’s environmental problems.