A subcommittee
of the House Homeland Security Committee marked up the Chemical Facility
Anti-Terrorism Act of 2008 today.
We applaud Chairwoman
Jackson Lee and the subcommittee for taking action to protect our nation’s
chemical plants. More than six years
after 9/11, the lack of a comprehensive federal program to regulate chemical
plant security leaves a hole in our nation’s defenses and places millions of
Americans at risk. Congress must close
this hole by passing legislation to defend against terrorist threats and reduce
or eliminate the consequences of an attack.
The chemical
security bill begins to address the deficiencies in our nation’s chemical plant
defenses, and should continue to improve as it moves through the Homeland
Security Committee.
We strongly
support the requirement of facilities to use safer technologies, such as the
use of safer chemicals, to reduce the consequence of a chemical release. Requiring companies to use safer chemicals,
particularly when safer and cost-effective technologies are available, is the
common-sense way to make chemical plants safer and more secure.
Congress
should pass legislation that replaces dangerous chemical operations with
feasible safer technologies, integrates employee participation in safety and
security initiatives, and protects the ability of state and local governments
to implement more stringent health, safety and security requirements.
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U.S. PIRG is the federation of state Public Interest
Research Groups. State PIRGs are
non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy organizations.
