FBI input sought in debate over EPA Web project

House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley, R-Va., has asked the FBI to weigh in on a debate over whether federal environmental regulators should be allowed to grant the public Internet access to a list of worst case scenario accidents possible at 66,000 facilities around the country where chemicals and toxic materials are kept.

In a letter sent Thursday to FBI Director Louis Freeh, Bliley solicited Freeh's feedback on a number of issues related to an ongoing controversy that dates back to the passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.

Among other things, the amendments required the EPA to develop rules mandating risk management programs for private facilities that have on site any of number of toxic, flammable and volatile substances.

The EPA regulation, finalized in 1996, initially invoked industry criticism for a range of reasons, including anticipated compliance and implementation difficulties and associated costs.

But particularly troublesome, from the industry's perspective, was the requirement to set out a "worst-case release" in the hazard assessment portion of the risk management program.

The EPA's proposed definition suggests a worst case release is an instantaneous loss of all chemicals with complete failure of any safety systems.

But predicting worst case releases, industry officials said, was fraught with practical difficulties and public relations pitfalls.

The EPA, moreover, has made it known that once the risk management plans are submitted, they are due in June 1999, they will be immediately available to state and local government agencies, the general public and all interested stakeholders.

The debate raging now within the EPA and among other government agencies, including the Justice Department, revolves around whether the information should be placed in its entirety on an EPA Web site.

The Clean Air Act does not specify the means by which the information should be disseminated. But the EPA appears to be leaning toward the Internet option in order to bolster industry- public dialogue on chemical risks and emergency planning.

However, the prospect that this information could wind up in its entirety on the Internet also has caught the attention of law enforcement agencies and police and firefighter organizations.

The FBI, the CIA and other groups have brought forward concerns that placing such information on the Internet could in effect provide terrorists or others bent on destruction with a kind of "blueprint" for mayhem.

Observers note that hard copy versions of the data would be harder to access, especially for individuals located outside the United States.

The issue has also caught the attention of Bliley, whose panel is responsible for overseeing implementation of the Clean Air Act.

A spokesman for the committee said Bliley has not yet taken a position on the issue, but said that hearings could be an outgrowth of the information gathering process in which Bliley is now engaged.