Study: Maine in 40th place when it comes to toxic spills

AUGUSTA — A pair of national environmental groups ranked Maine 40th in the nation in the number of toxic chemical spills Wednesday.

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group and the National Environmental Law Center said federal statistics show Maine had 142 reports of toxic accidents between 1993 and 1995.

Of those, seven involved injury or evacuation, but no deaths.

Texas was ranked No. 1 with 4,537 reports, or nearly 20 percent of the national total of 23,118.

But the two organizations cautioned the data they analyzed from the Emergency Response Notification System was not comprehensive because it was based primarily on telephone interviews when accidents are reported to authorities.

Susan Sargent of the Environmental Information Center-Maine said the state’s Emergency Management Agency should put records of chemical accidents on a computer database so they can be more accessible to the public.