Details about this story

• Source: Dallas Morning News
• Date: June 02, 2008
• URL: Read the story
• Bylines: Michael Grabell , Jennifer LaFleur
• Topics: Environment , Safety
• Data Types: State Data , Local Data
• Description/Excerpt: Thousands of Dallas County residents are at risk of a toxic disaster because outdated and haphazard zoning has allowed homes, apartments and schools to be built within blocks – in some cases even across the street – from sites that use dangerous chemicals. A Dallas Morning News investigation found dozens of sites that are more toxic and closer to residential neighborhoods than the acetylene gas plant that exploded near downtown last summer. The News analyzed data from more than 900 Dallas County sites that store hazardous chemicals, including 52 with quantities considered so dangerous the companies are required to tell the Environmental Protection Agency what could happen in a worst-case scenario and how they would prevent it. Submitting a scenario does not mean that a harmful release had occurred or is likely. Nor does it mean that companies had violations. Twenty-three of the 52 most dangerous sites are within a quarter-mile of a residential neighborhood.
• Methodology: See explainer
• Database or Graphic: Go to site (com/sharedcontent/dws/graphics/0508/toxic/)