WASHINGTON, DC, October 5, 2002 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to rely on voluntary measures to improve security at the nation's chemical manufacturing plants.

In the agency's homeland security plan, released October 2, the EPA proposes voluntary security actions by the chemical industry. The issue of the vulnerability of chemical plants and storage sites to terrorist attacks has gained urgency since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

EPA Administrator Christie Whitman (Photo courtesy EPA)

Prior to the plan's release, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman and Office of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge had both supported new EPA regulations under the Clean Air Act to increase chemical plant security.

When the plan was released, Whitman said that the EPA will back homeland security legislation that would give oversight of chemical industry security to the new Department of Homeland Security.

Bills to form that department are now stalled in the U.S. Senate.

The Chemical Security Act (S 1602), introduced by Senator Jon Corzine, a New Jersey Democrat, would require new, mandatory measures to increase security at chemical plants. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed the bill unanimously in July.

Senator Jon Corzine (Photo courtesy Office of the Senator)

But the bill is opposed by the industry groups including the American Chemistry Council and the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS).

"In our judgment, this is a badly flawed proposal that actually would undermine security preparedness at factories, chemical facilities and other industrial sites, and we urge Congress to reject it in its entirety," wrote Jack Lichtenstein, director of government affairs and public policy at ASIS, in a letter to Congress opposing S 1602.

Lichenstein said one of the reasons ASIS would not support S 1602 is the role it would give the EPA in overseeing chemical industry security, an area in which the EPA has no "background or expertise," he wrote.

But a number of public interest groups had hoped that the EPA would seek a strong role in protecting the public for terrorist attacks on the nation's chemical plants.

"EPA's strategy amounts to little more than pleading for industry's voluntary efforts and hoping for the best," wrote the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Accident at Morton Specialty Chemical, Paterson, New Jersey on April 8, 1998. (Photo by Bill Tompkins courtesy U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board)

"Apparently, EPA plans to 'work with' industry associations to encourage them to implement security enhancements, and to develop guidance for corporations to consider in deciding how, if at all, to address their vulnerabilities to terror attack. Entirely missing is any requirement that at risk facilities actually do something to secure themselves and reduce their attractiveness as a potential target."

EPA data shows that there are 123 chemical plants around the country that could each endanger a million or more people if attacked, and many more that could threaten thousands of people. A report by the Army Surgeon General ranked an attack on a chemical plant second only to a widespread biological attack in terms of the hazard to the public.

Investigative reports by newspapers around the countries have shown that many chemical facilities have lax security, with reporters able to anonymously access many sites.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All rights reserved.