Chemical plants

Chemical industry urges Congress not to alter chemical facility security law
The Chemical Facility Security Act of 2006 introduced federal seafety standards to govern chemical plants, but also contained major concessions to the industry; the industry wants Congress to reauthorize the act without alterations
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Rules about hazmat trains worry Pennsylvania officials
Officials in Pennsylvania’s York and Adams counties are uneasy about the prospect of having hazardous material roll through their counties
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Chemical company wants to limit disclosure on plant explosion
An explosion in a chemical plant in West Virginia plant killed two employees and raised fears about the safety of chemical plants located near residential areas; the plant owner, citing a terrorism-related federal law, is trying to limit what the federal chemical safety agency can disclose to the public
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CSC to help combat cyber warfare
Cyberattacks pose a major threat to the welfare and security of developing countries; developing protection against that threat offers business opportunities
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Hill committees put authorization, chemical security bills on top of agendas
Top House and Senate Homeland Security committees staffers say their top priorities would be authorization of DHS budget and chemical plants safety measure which may include “inherently safer technologies”
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Trains carrying hazmat collide in Minnesota
At least 40 cars were derailed and some went into the Mississippi River in an early morning crash in southeast Minnesota; liquid ammonia and propane are leaking from some of the cars
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New CFIUS regulations
CFIUS issues final regulations governing national security reviews of foreign investment in the United States
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Important deals in the chemical sector
Ashland acquires Hercules, and Dow announces its plans to acquire Rohm and Haas; Ashland values Hercules at $3.3 billion; Dow is willing to pay $18.8 billion for Rohm and Haas
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Melting ice menaces Russia's critical infrastructure
Russian scientists say that the hard permafrost covering the ground year-round across Russia’s far north will melt by 2030; government officials say that if this happens, critical infrastructure, including key airfields, oil storage facilities, and strategic oil reservoirs, could all be destroyed
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Weather service offers Chicago HAZMAT support page
The U.S. National Weather Service offers Chicago-area critical infrastructure plants area-specific information on weather patterns so that can better cope with accidents and disasters
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Fines for nuclear operator
Security guards at a Florida nuclear power plant are found asleep on the job; other guards disable their weapons, making it impossible for them to protect the plant in the event of an incident; the NRC imposes fines
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New material shows promise for nuclear waste clean-up
Nuclear power has advantages, but if this method of generating power is to be viable long term, discovering new solutions to radioactive waste disposal and other problems is important
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The U.S. on course to deactivating all its chemical weapons
On 25 November 1969 President Richard Nixon unilaterally renounced the first use of chemical weapons and renounced all methods of biological warfare; the United States has been deactivating chemical weapons ever since, and to date has destroyed about 45 percent of the chemical weapons it had produced; it is not likely, though, that the United States would achieve the complete destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile by 2012, as mandated by the Chemical Weapons Treaty
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New, more demanding rules for hazmat rail tanker construction
New safety standard will increase by 500 percent on average the amount of energy the tank car must absorb during a train accident before a catastrophic failure may occur
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Maryland leaders worry about shift in DHS priorities after elections
Because of its proximity to the nation’s capital, the Baltimore metro area and Washington suburbs are particularly vulnerable to terrorist activity, Maryland leaders say; they want attention to security increased, not decreased
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