After the Sept. 11 terror attacks, security experts warned that chemical plants were vulnerable to potential attacks or pilferage by terrorists and urged plant owners to ramp up their security.
Some did, going so far as to replace hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives, hoping to make themselves less of a target. But many didn’t. The concern is that an attack against a facility with highly toxic chemicals could cause mass destruction, especially in dense urban areas.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security made a show of issuing new rules for chemical plant security. The problem is the rules are temporary and could undercut stronger state laws. They also don’t set a timetable for change or require the industry to take specific steps. U.S. Public Interest Research Group attorney Alex Fidis said the authority for the new rules came about last fall as a result of a closed-door deal between House and Senate negotiators and the chemical industry, which shuns government involvement in its security programs. The authority was tucked into a homeland security appropriations bill.
The rules require roughly 7,000 of the nation’s highest-risk chemical facilities to conduct a series of assessments and develop security plans. Homeland Security will categorize plants into a four-tier system, with roughly 400 of the most dangerous plants in the top tier. The risk assessments, site inspections and security plans could take at least a year.
Colorado has hundreds of chemical plants, but less than a handful might be deemed dangerous enough for the top tier, said director Kevin Klein of the Division of Fire Safety in the Department of Public Safety. Klein said the plants will be categorized according to “what you have, how much you have and where you have it.” Toxic chemicals near a large population center need greater security.
State officials won’t know which facilities will need the highest security until audits are done. Colorado chemical plants range from oil refineries to chlorine storage facilities, chemical labs and even those propane facilities where we get our barbecue tanks filled. Klein said that Colorado has laws for dealing with spills and overall safety, but did not add new security rules after Sept. 11. And he acknowledged that the new federal effort is somewhat wishy-washy, noting, “There’s discretion to kind of sit back and do nothing.”
Congress needs to pass a comprehensive chemical plant security bill that will compel chemical facilities to add the necessary security to protect the public – from accidents and from terrorists.
