Chemical plant securityChemical plant security measure moves forward in the House
The House Homeland Security Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee are making progress on legislation meant to extend DHS’s Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standardsprogram, which helps secure commercial chemical plants from terrorist attacks. Several attempts by the House Homeland Security Committee to extend the program have failed due to disagreements with the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which also oversees the matter.
The House Homeland Security Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee are making progress on legislation meant to extend DHS’s Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program, which helps secure commercial chemical plants from terrorist attacks. Several attempts by the House Homeland Security Committee to extend the program have failed due to disagreements with the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which also oversees the matter. The latest version of the bill, introduced in February 2014 by Representative Patrick Meehan (R-Pennsylvania), was developed with assistance from House Energy and Commerce Committee staffers and has been backed by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas). This version of the bill would extend the program for two years, although DHS officials have requested for authorization of five years or longer.
According to National Journal, opponents of the bill are concerned that an extension of the program will do little to fix several issues associated with the initiative. “Frankly, I see nothing in the scant 11 pages of H.R. 4007 to deliver the massive reforms that will be required to make” DHS Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards and “other chemical security programs more efficient and productive programs,” Representative Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) said during the latest hearing of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies.
The program has been renewed annually by Congress, but management issues and delays in approving facility security plans have made some lawmakers reluctant to authorize the programpermanently. DHS officials have cited lack of certainty about the annual renewal of the program as reasons for the program’s instability. National Journal reports that Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Caitlin Durkovich said that some chemical companies may not comply with the program’s requirements due to an expectation that Congress might not renew the initiative.
Representative Yvette Clarke (D-New York) of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies has raised concerns that the program could delegate facility inspections to private contractors. “I have reservations about the use of contractors in the inspector cadre, where this work is generally recognized as an inherently governmental responsibility, especially when it involves terrorist threats and risks to the nation,” she said. Meehan noted, however, that the Energy Department often outsources delicate national security work to private contractors that run national laboratories and other nuclear weapons facilities.
