Titus To Gibson: Reject Wal-Mart Store Near Chemical Plants

Press Release

State Senator Dina Titus today called on Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson to reject plans by Wal-Mart to build a super-center at the Basic Management Inc. site in Henderson, citing a history of toxic releases and explosions at the industrial complex and current concerns about lack of security at chemical plants seen as targets of terrorism.

"It makes absolutely no sense to consider putting a major retail center next to the heaviest concentration of chemical plants in the Las Vegas Valley," Titus said. "It makes even less sense when you recognize the federal government now considers chemical plants one of the top targets for terrorist activity."

Dina Titus successfully sponsored legislation in 1997 to toughen state regulation of the Titanium Metals Corp. (TIMET) plant at the BMI complex, after a chlorine gas leak at the plant in 1996 resulted in the death of a TIMET worker. The BMI complex experienced a major chlorine gas release in 1991, when 70 tons of chlorine gas escaped from the Pioneer-Chlor Alkali plant and 200 persons were treated in a hospital for respiratory distress. A 1988 explosion at the PEPCON plant at BMI killed two workers and injured more than 300 others. PEPCON has moved its operations to Cedar City, Utah, but TIMET, Kerr-McGee Corp. and Pioneer-Chlor Alkali remain at the BMI complex.

"The danger of releases from these plants has always been a concern, even more so in light of developments that have been approved by the city in the vicinity of BMI," Titus said. "Mayor Jim Gibson and the City of Henderson need to say 'no' to Wal-Mart and any other retail development that would draw thousands of people daily to within a few hundred feet of these plants and the dangers they pose."

Titus noted that draft legislation in the U.S. Senate calls for stronger measures by chemical companies to secure their facilities, because counter-terrorism experts rank chemical plants at the top of domestic terrorism targets and self-regulation by the companies has resulted in inadequate security. Titus also cited a Congressional Research Service report in June 2005 that identified up to four chemical plants in Nevada with the potential for releasing toxins that could affect between 100,000 and 1 million people.

"This is an issue that cannot be ignored," she said. "We must properly regulate our land use around these chemical plants, and make sure they are doing their utmost to prevent either accidental or deliberate toxic releases."

A Southern Nevada labor leader, Danny Thompson, executive secretary-treasurer of the Nevada AFL-CIO, has written a letter to the Henderson City Council urging it to oppose the Wal-Mart center, saying a chemical disaster could lead to a "staggering loss of life." Wal-Mart has temporarily withdrawn its plans from consideration by the Henderson Planning Commission, but is expected to make a decision in the next two to three weeks whether to go forward with its proposal.

"As a candidate for governor, Mayor Gibson has an obligation to let Nevada citizens know how he will protect them from chemical fallout," Titus said. "As the leader of his city, Mayor Gibson should address this important public safety issue right now."

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