More than 100 facilities, including 12 in the L.A. Basin, could expose millions to toxic gas in an attack or accident, documents indicate. More than 100 chemical plants throughout the United States — including 12 in the Los Angeles Basin — each could expose millions of people to dangerous concentrations of toxic gas in the event of a terrorist attack or major accident, according to industry documents filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In Southern California, eight plants in Los Angeles County, three in San Bernardino County and one in Riverside County are each capable of exposing a million or more people to the gases, and some people could receive doses high enough to cause death or serious injury, the documents show. About 30 other plants in the region handle smaller volumes of chemicals that could affect between 100,000 and 1 million people. Residential neighborhoods, child-care centers, schools, amusement parks, hospitals and convalescent homes all lie within the areas in which people could be killed or injured by the gases, according to the reports that chemical companies are required to file with the EPA. In the Los Angeles region, companies and municipal facilities that pose the greatest risk handle chlorine, which they use mostly to make cleaning solvents and disinfect drinking water. At high concentrations, chlorine is deadly when inhaled. Full Story
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