Environment America is the new home of U.S. PIRG’s environmental work.
WASHINGTON—The
chemical industry reached a closed-door deal in cooperation with Senate
and House negotiators Thursday night to add temporary chemical security
provisions to the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill.
The temporary industry provisions, authorized to last for three years,
would displace permanent and comprehensive chemical security bills
unanimously approved by the House and Senate Homeland Security
Committees this summer.
“The
industry deal will take real chemical security solutions off the table
and replace them with an inadequate temporary program,” said U.S. PIRG
Staff Attorney Alex Fidis. “Congress is as close as it has ever been to
passing permanent chemical security regulations, but a few lawmakers
capitulating to the chemical industry’s demands will derail years of
work to protect communities from chemical terrorism.”
The
industry proposal would establish a program that requires “high risk”
facilities to conduct vulnerability assessments and develop security
plans. The proposal tasks the Department of Homeland Security with
identifying which of the more than 15,000 chemical facilities should be
classified as high risk. Facilities not deemed high risk will not be
required to implement any security measures.
The
industry proposal authorizes the Department to visit and inspect
facilities, but explicitly prohibits the government from requiring
specific security improvements at chemical plants. Consequently,
decisions about which security measures to implement are left to the
discretion of the chemical facility with minimal governmental input.
“Absent
government authority to mandate security, the industry proposal does
nothing more than establish a rubber stamp program to legitimize the
chemical industry’s security status quo,” said Fidis. “The proposal
displaces comprehensive legislation and would result in shopping mall
security at dangerous chemical plants.”
On
Monday, House and Senate conferees will meet to reconcile differences
between their competing bills. The industry proposal will be offered
and could be approved during this conference.
