Because of increased threats from terrorism, the act also limited public access to RMP documents. The EPA previously posted the plans online. The changes restricted public access to the Off-Site Consequence Analysis information, known as the “worst-case” scenario portion of the plan.

Now, one person can only review 10 facilities per month, in person, without any electronic recording devices, within a federal reading room, and under the supervision of federal agents.

Arizona has just two such rooms available for public access to these documents. One is in Phoenix and the other is in Flagstaff, Ariz.

“Unfortunately, in an effort to get security, we’ve swung too far into the realm of protecting information or withholding it,” Moulton said, who advocates for public transparency with the Center for Effective Government. “We ignore the benefits of information and how it can actually help make communities safer.”

But Mark Howard, the director of the Arizona Emergency Response Commission, said the security concerns for high risk facilities outweigh the benefits of full public disclosure.

This is the same approach Howard cited for protecting lists of ammonium nitrate storage facilities in the first part of ABC15 and AZCIR’s investigation of hazardous materials oversight.

Howard is responsible for managing emergency plans from local and state emergency response personnel across Arizona, which includes chemical inventory lists and access to the EPA’s RMP documents. He said it is up to the EPA to provide public access to RMP listings but that for the information he is able to release, he balances the business’s security interests with that of the public’s right to know.

“We do try to protect (the information),” Howard said. “I do want to make sure that the businesses are confident that we’re going to secure their information concerning their facility.

“How is that going to serve that citizen any better to know what’s there?” Howard said.

Moulton said knowing this information is an important part of emergency planning for communities and first responders.

“First, at the most fundamental level in terms of emergency management, you can’t plan for an emergency if you don’t know that there’s a risk,” Moulton said.

Information exists on the EPA’s Vulnerable Zone Indicator website, which allows residents to search for RMP facilities to determine if their home is within a worst-case danger zone. The website will send an email notification to anyone searching for facilities and will inform them if an RMP facility is nearby.

The website doesn’t, however, list or name the facilities in its emailed response. Instead, it forwards a link to the EPA’s website which details the nearest local emergency response planning committee.