US to identify 8,000 high-risk plants in 1 year

02 November 2007 20:29  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--Top federal security officials said on Friday they expect to identify within 12 months the estimated 8,000 US chemical facilities that will be classified as high-risk for terrorist attacks and begin security audits of those sites.

 

Robert Stephan, assistant secretary for infrastructure protection at the Department of Homeland Security, told a press conference that with publication of the department’s final list of threshold chemicals, the full survey and security classification of US chemical plants can begin.

 

Earlier on Friday, the department published its list of some 300 substances that are regarded as “chemicals of interest” under its Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS). Any facility in the US that holds threshold amounts of any of the listed chemicals must complete an online registration process - called a top screen assessment - with the department.

 

The department will use those registration records to determine whether each specific site qualifies as a high-risk location, one that terrorists might target for an attack in hopes of using the on-site chemicals as a weapon of mass destruction.

 

In addition to the potential for explosive or other release of hazardous chemicals, the department also will evaluate sites for the potential for theft or diversion of weapons-capable chemicals or sabotage of the site.

 

As many as 50,000 US facilities are expected to complete the online registration process by mid January, Stephan said, with 5,000-8,000 of those likely to be given a preliminary assessment as high-risk.

 

The 8,000 facilities will be required to perform 90-day vulnerability assessments, which will be reviewed by the department. Final ranking of the US chemical sites posing the greatest risk to human life, health, the environment or the US economy if attacked will probably be completed by October next year, Stephan said.

 

Those facilities will then have to draw up security improvement plans that meet department standards and make those changes subject to the department's inspection and approval.

 

Stephan emphasised, however, that a large number of chemical facilities that are certain to fall in the high-risk category have already begun the registration process and have made security improvements.

 

He said the list of threshold chemicals, known as Appendix A under the regulations, “is the best possible list we could have at this time” and is the product of extensive consultations with the chemicals industry, local emergency responders and national security agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

 

Stephan said that other chemical substances could be added to the list in future, depending on enforcement experience and other intelligence. Threshold amounts for some substances also may be increased or lowered depending enforcement experience.

 

He said some substances were dropped from the list as originally proposed, such as urea and acetone, because FBI explosives experts and other authorities said those chemicals did not pose a terrorist use risk by themselves but only in combination with other substances.

 

“We have decided to focus on those other substances, such as hydrogen peroxide, which could be used to weaponise those chemicals removed from the list,” he said.

By: Joe Kamalick
+1 713 525 2653

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