Just before 9:00 on June 20, 2026, a first-alarm chlorine leak at the wastewater treatment plant near 91st and Southern in Phoenix drew at least a dozen fire vehicles from four cities. Hazmat crews secured it by early afternoon, and officials say the public was never in danger.
Good. That is a chlorine leak going as well as it possibly can: a small leak at a staffed facility, crews who knew the site, nobody locked inside a building 300 feet away. But it still took a four-city hazmat response to contain.
Now look at Surprise. The proposed ICE Prison Camp near Sweetwater Avenue and Dysart Road would lock more than 500 people about 300 feet from Rinchem, whose federal Risk Management Plan covers 7,500 pounds of pure chlorine, three times the threshold that triggers RMP regulation, stored in cylinders on an outdoor gas pad 365 days a year.
You don’t have to take our word for what a leak would do. Take Rinchem’s. Their own filing models a single failed valve releasing just 110 pounds of chlorine, with a toxic endpoint of 0.1 miles. That is 528 feet. The ICE Prison Camp sits inside that zone. And in that same filing, Rinchem reported the number of people inside the zone: zero. The ICE Prison Camp would fill it with over 500 human beings who cannot run, cannot move upwind, and depend entirely on guards unlocking doors in time.
The modeling also assumes a release happens on Rinchem’s property, where its mitigation systems are. For six weeks, Surprise residents have documented ISO tank trailers of hazardous chemicals parked illegally on the public street. What happens if chlorine is ever released from a trailer at the curb, where no mitigation exists at all?
There is no answer, because there is no plan. Project Salt Box holds written confirmation from the Surprise Fire Marshal that no emergency planning conversations about the ICE Prison Camp have taken place. None.
The council knows all of this. As we reported earlier this month, when Senators Gallego and Kelly’s offices convened a meeting, Mayor Sartor and every council member showed up and raised the Rinchem risk, emergency response, evacuation, and hospital strain themselves. They will say it behind closed doors. They will not put it on their own meeting agenda.
Take action: Call the mayor and council today. Demand a public hearing on the August 4 agenda about their meeting with Gallego, as well as safety and emergency response planning for this facility and the surrounding community.
- Mayor Kevin Sartor 623-222-1313
- Nick Haney (D1) 623-222-1321
- Vice Mayor Earle Greenberg (D2) 623-222-1322
- Patrick Duffy (D3) 623-222-1323
- Johnny Melton (D4) 623-222-1324
- Jack Hastings (D5) 623-222-1325
- Chris Judd (D6) 623-222-1326
[Image credit: Phoenix Fire Dept]