Committee Dems favor permanent chemical security rules

Senior Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee said Wednesday that they favored making permanent the regulations issued by the Homeland Security Department to secure chemical manufacturing and storage sites. Both Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Homeland Security Transportation Security Subcommittee Chairwoman Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas -- whose panel also monitors infrastructure protection -- noted that the department's Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards, designed to identify high risk sites where dangerous chemicals are made, used or stored, expire in October 2009.

But a discussion draft of legislation that would make the regulations permanent raised concerns over what security measures would be required to be taken and the amount of resources the department actually needs to enforce the regulations.

The department implemented the regulations Nov. 20 and began requiring companies to identify the chemicals and quantities present at over 50,000 facilities to determine if the sites fall under the regulations. The department also released a list of "chemicals of interest" with over 300 compounds, including the common industrial chemicals chlorine and propane.

Companies will be required to complete site-vulnerability assessments and security plans subject to department approval. The department will field an inspection staff of 30 even though it estimates that at least 5,000 facilities will be subject to regulation. Witnesses testifying before Jackson Lee's subcommittee Wednesday called for increased funding for a larger staff.

"How can 30 personnel inspect the entire country?" said Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J. "We're not being serious about this."

Clyde Miller, corporate security director for BASF, said that chemical companies have been moving swiftly to complete the chemical inventory, and urged Congress to slow down on making the regulations permanent.

"I can assure you that the program that is currently in place establishes considerable demands on companies to comply," Miller said. He also criticized the committee's discussion draft of legislation for its inclusion of a mandate for instituting "inherently safer technologies."

Miller agreed with Bob Stephan, the assistant Homeland Security secretary for infrastructure protection, who said his department favored implementing risk-based security measures, such as keeping smaller quantities on hand or making substitutions for hazardous materials. "No single security measure is the only right one," Miller said, adding that safety experts at the facilities are in the best position to decide which security measures to employ.