As regulation of chemical plants safety inches forward, controversy continues
In a long-awaited speech delivered two days ago, DHS secretary Michael Chertoff endorsed the idea of regulating chemical plants. Security experts have long warned that, short of a direct nuclear attack on an American city, chemical plants posed the most severe threat of a massive casualty event — the result of a terrorist attack or an accident. The chemical industry had stubbornly resisted federal imposition of security standards, and its heavy campaign contributions made sure that enough legislators would be in its corner to support the so-called”voluntary, industry-developed” security standards which exerts agree are largely meaningless.
Chertoff’s push for federal regulations on the chemical industry comes on the heels of a bill sponsored by Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut). Critics point to three weaknesses in both the bill pending in Congress and in Chertoff’s outline of his approach:
The security standards will be formulated by the chemical plants themselves, with the government merely reviewing them
Federal law would override state regulations; thus, states such as New Jersey which are especially anxious about chemical plants security would see their strict state regulations actually weakened by the federal statute
Neither the congressional bill nor Chertoff outline calls for chemical plants which are especially close to large urban centers to replace the most toxic chemicals they use and store with safer, if more expensive, chemicals
The tension between the Collins/Lieberman/Chertoff vision of chemical plant safety and what states believe is necessary was highlighted by a coincidence of the calendar: Chertoff’s comments came on the day that New Jersey’s stricter safety rules kicked in, requiring 140 plants to assess their vulnerability to terrorist attacks or major accidents. Critics say the chemical industry’s lobbying arm is trying to get a weaker federal version passed as a way around the state standards. The American Chemistry Council, which represents 2,300 companies, said its ultimate goal is to make sure that federal preemption of state regulation is part of the federal measure. Chemical plants should be held to one set of national rules, like nuclear plants or airlines, said Marty Durbin, the group’s managing director for federal affairs. He said businesses want to avoid “a patchwork of rules at the state or local level that would actually lead to lowering national security.”
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