"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Texas and Louisiana as well as the emergency response teams that are working hard to recover from Hurricane Ike," he said. "While many facilities have not reported significant damage and we have no reports of releases, some facilities - particularly east of Houston are still assessing the impact as flooding of local roads continue to limit access to numerous sites."

"The one-two punch of Gustav and Ike has created major challenges for chemical facilities in the Gulf coast area as they try to resume normal operations as quickly and safely as possible. Facility operators continue to work closely with government officials to expedite the safe movement of employees and materials in and out of areas impacted by the storms."

"ACC member companies place great importance on implementing emergency plans focused on protecting the safety of employees, the environment and surrounding communities," said Dooley. "Under Responsible Care(R), our trademark health, safety, environment and security program, all ACC members have long-established emergency plans, which are activated in close coordination with local, state and national authorities as well as other businesses and transportation systems, in advance of an approaching storms like Ike and Gustav."

Texas and Louisiana are the leading domestic producers of chemicals, accounting for 28% of the chemical production in the U.S., and critical to supplying the raw materials used to manufacture products that are essential to modern life.

ACC represents the leading companies engaged in the business of chemistry and 90 percent of the productive capacity for basic industrial chemicals in the United States. The business of chemistry is a $664 billion a year high-tech industry and one of the largest and most globally competitive exporting sectors in the U.S., with exports totaling $109 billion in 2004. U.S. chemicals exports support 227,000 of the nearly one million American jobs provided by the chemical industry.

We at ASI wish for all those affected by Hurricane Ike to be safe during these difficult times.