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Incident-specific data reveal the spatial patterns of two major classes of acute toxic airborne releases in the United States (1982–86): rural agricultural and urban industrial. Rural (primarily truck transport) incidents dominate the distribution in the western US, while rail incidents and fixed site incidents dominate in the east. Using a combination of cartographic and statistical analyses, risk and mitigation measures were calculated to identify high-hazard and low-hazard states. Risk factors, primarily numbers of chemical firms and rail miles per state, best predict the frequency of incidents and their resulting spatial pattern.
Cutter et al. (Mon,) studied this question.