Nearly 8,000 US chem plants face security rules

12 June 2007 22:04  [Source: ICIS news]

FALLS CHURCH, Virginia (ICIS news)--Nearly 8,000 US chemical facilities ultimately may be regulated under new federal antiterrorism regulations now going into force, a top official said on Tuesday.

However, only about 600 plant sites are expected to qualify as high risk facilities that will be subject to the most stringent federal monitoring of measures put in place by plant owners to thwart or discourage potential terrorist attacks, said Larry Stanton, head of chemical security compliance at the Department of Homeland Security.

Under the department’s chemical plant site security regulations that went into effect on Friday, 8 June, most of the roughly 15,000 US chemical sites will be required to report to the department on whether they hold certain threshold amounts of any of some 350 substances.

The final department list of the 350 “chemicals of interest” is to be published within weeks, officials told the fourth annual chemical industry security summit.  Chemical companies then will have 60 days to complete an online registration with the department.

The type and amounts of listed chemicals at a specific site along with other information - such as whether a particular site is close to a population centre or perhaps produces material critical to national defence - will determine whether a facility is put into one of four risk tiers by the department.

Tier I will be for those sites that pose the greatest risk in terms of loss of life or economic disruption if attacked by terrorists. Facilities posing less risk will be placed in the lower three tiers.

Stanton cautioned that until the thousands of US chemical companies begin reporting to the department, it is difficult to say how many may end up in the tier groups. 

However, he said the department estimates that 150-300 facilities likely will end up in the highest-risk Tier I category, with perhaps 300-600 sites in Tier II. But Stanton also noted that, depending on the reporting results, the Tier I and II categories combined might hold as few as 400-600 facilities.

There may be some 2,000 facilities in Tier III and as many as 4,000-5,000 sites in Tier IV, the lowest risk category, he said.

The toughest security standards and most rigorous federal inspections will be focused on the Tier I sites.

By: Joe Kamalick
+1 713 525 2653

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