In response, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Executive Director Kim Glas:

“Today’s actions by Administrator Pruitt and the EPA are disheartening. There are 150 major industrial chemical accidents each year in the United States. At least one-in-three schoolchildren attend a school in the vulnerability zone of a hazardous facility. The EPA has already delayed a rule that would help prevent these disasters and save lives, and a recent report outlined more than two-dozen examples of industrial chemical accidents that have occurred since the rule was first delayed. Now, Administrator Pruitt is attempting to further weaken these safeguards.

“The mission of the EPA is to protect human health and the environment. Under the leadership of Administrator Pruitt, the agency has failed miserably to actually do anything to achieve that mission. This is yet another example of Mr. Pruitt putting American workers and communities in harm’s way.”