Environmental groups call for legislation to make chemical facilities safer

KSDK -- A group of environmental activist groups are making a push for new legislation to protect schools from chemical disasters.

Members of the Metro Saint Louis Coalition for Inclusion and Equity and Greenpeace were among those represented at a news conference outside Clay Elementary School in St. Louis this morning.

Organizers provided a map of high-risk chemical facilities that they claim put 10,000 or more citizens at risk in Missouri. They said chemical facilities are one of Missouri's biggest security risks and an attack on one of the plants would be potentially deadly.

On June 23rd of this year, the House Committee on Homeland Security agreed to a bill (H.R. 2968) that could make the highest risk plants safe by using "inherently safer technologies" (IST), or safer chemicals. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will next take up the legislation in September.