Early July was filled with so much hope—the promise of endless weeks of summer sun, that odd nostalgia we all feel for fireworks.
So the Mercury decided to snap everyone out of it, with a long story about the many deadly chemicals being stowed all over our fair city, and the piteous (potentially illegal) work by state agencies to communicate that to you, the public. Read it if you didn’t.
And then you can take a gander for yourself at what’s being stowed near your various haunts. The state fire marshal’s office just unveiled an updated version of its Hazardous Substance Searchable Database, an online tool that offers a public window into the nasty stuff around town. It’s a larger set of chemicals than those we explored in July, and it’s not going to offer you a lot of context (like how relatively volatile or safe these substances are, and what you should do in case one of these facilities goes up), but it’s a start and there’s tons of data.
For instance, a quick search shows there are more than 160 facilities storing reportable quantities of hazardous chemicals in just my zip code. That can sound worse than it actually is. As we noted in the story, merely having a forklift or two on site can force a business to register, since the batteries contain sulfuric acid. Cell phone stores have the same problem.
But there are big operators, too. A facility owned by Brenntag Pacific in Portland Northwest Industrial corridor reports more than 200 hazardous chemicals to the state.
The fire marshal’s office has offered this service before, but took it down earlier this year when a new reporting format made it impossible to update the information. That’s fixed. You have to register to use the service, but it’s worth it.
OMG !! CHEMICALS !!