Chemical firms raise issues for US security list

09 May 2007 22:43  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--US chemical industry officials and attorneys warned on Wednesday that a proposed federal list of high-risk chemicals is too broad and may trigger information gridlock in the effort to identify potential terrorist targets.

 

Chemical manufacturers, electric utilities and other industries filed comments with the Department of Homeland Security on the department’s proposed list of some 350 “chemicals of interest”, which will be used to determine which sites in the US will be subject to new security mandates meant to thwart potential terrorist attacks.

 

The department compiled the list on the basis of potential harm to surrounding communities if a given compound were released by terrorists using explosives or other means or if the substances were stolen for use in combination with other chemicals for bomb-making.

 

The National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) raised an objection reflected in other comments, noting that while the department’s proposed list of hazardous chemicals specifies threshold amounts for each, the department has not specified whether those amounts apply to chemicals in their pure state or to chemical mixtures as well.

 

Doug Green, a chemicals regulation specialist with the Washington, DC office of law firm DLA Piper, raised another common complaint, noting that the proposed list does not exempt intermediate chemicals that in many instances may exist on a production site only in a transitory state, perhaps for only some minutes.

 

Green, who filed comments on behalf of electric utilities, also noted that some chemicals on the department’s list - propane is one - are commonly available for commercial purchase, suggesting that a terrorist would not likely try to penetrate a facility’s security to obtain substances that can be easily acquired on the open market.

 

NPRA pointed out that nearly 100 of the chemicals on the list would serve to identify a site as a regulated “high risk” facility if held in any amount.

 

“Listing a chemical this way is not practical or efficient in representing the true risk of our nation’s chemical facilities,” the association said.

 

The department, said NPRA, is likely to become inundated with data from thousands of facilities, such as research or testing labs that might have only ounces or a few pounds of a listed chemical.

 

Green agreed, saying that without further clarification by the department on the circumstances, conditions and quantities of critical chemicals, the chemical industry and others will likely err on the side of caution and report so many substances as to trigger information gridlock for the department’s regulators.

 

The new department regulations governing antiterrorism security measures at high-risk chemical facilities are to go into effect on 8 June, with industry reports on the “chemicals of interest” held at their sites due in early August.  The department is expected to publish a revised threshold list perhaps as early as the 8 June enforcement date.

By: Joe Kamalick
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