US eases antiterrorism criteria on propane

02 October 2007 17:45  [Source: ICIS news]

BALTIMORE, Maryland (ICIS news)--US security officials have eased antiterrorism regulations on propane in order to avoid unnecessary regulation of thousands of farms and small town businesses, a top federal authority said on Tuesday.

 

Robert Stephan, assistant secretary for infrastructure protection at the Department of Homeland Security, said that propane will remain on the department’s developing list of “chemicals of interest” and still will be subject to antiterrorism site security regulations but only at higher volumes.

 

Propane was among 350 chemicals on the department’s proposed list of hazardous substances published earlier this year. 

 

Any US entity that produces, stores or uses threshold amounts of any of the listed chemicals will be subject to the department’s antiterrorism site security regulations, designed to prevent would-be terrorists from using a chemical facility as an improvised weapon of mass destruction.

 

On the proposed list, the threshold quantity for propane was 7,500 pounds.

 

However, in late August Senator Charles Grassley (Republican-Iowa) and 16 other farm-state senators asked the department to remove propane from the list because of the regulatory burden it would place on farmers and others.

 

The senators argued that many farms and rural small businesses typically will have up to 2,000 gallons of propane on site as heating and cooking fuel - well above the proposed 7,500-lb reporting and compliance threshold. A gallon of propane weighs 4.2lb.

 

Stephan said his office also received letters or e-mails from some 4,000 people complaining about the listing for propane.

 

He said that his office has raised the threshold amount for propane “by a significant amount”, although he said he could not specify the new level until the final list is published, probably by the end of this month.

 

“We want to reach those sites where there may be major stores of propane, such as distributors and wholesalers, but we’re not interested in regulating most end users of propane, such as a poultry farmer who uses it to heat a chicken coop during winter,” Stephan said.

 

Stephan said, however, that propane cannot be eliminated from the list of chemicals of interest because propane is known to have been used by terrorists in some attacks or attempted attacks overseas. 

 

He cited in particular the 29 and 30 June attempted car-bombings in London and Glasgow in which small propane tanks - of the type typically used for backyard barbeque grills - were part of the bombs.

 

Stephan spoke to chemical industry executives on the second day of a three-day security conference sponsored by the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA). 

 

By: Joe Kamalick
+1 713 525 2653

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