re: Planning urged to prepare for La.’s chemical boom

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I'm not saying I disagree but I am genuinely curious as to what you would reasonably change.

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"Refineries all over the United States are dangerous," United Steelworkers Local 13-12 spokesman Bob Landry said last week. He worked at ExxonMobil's chemical plant in Baton Rouge for 36 years before retiring in 2008. The plant uses feedstock from the company's oil refinery there. Landry, a former president of Local 13-12, said large European refineries that he visited have better safety records than their Louisiana counterparts.

What makes Europe safer? For one thing, the EU adopted the Seveso directive in 1982 after a 1976 chemical plant explosion in Seveso, Italy. Under it, EU states must see that refineries and other companies using or producing chemicals have policies in place to prevent accidents. That approach is proactive, with safety viewed as a precondition to operating.

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