Next terrorist target: U.S. chemical plants
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Imagine if airlines were told in the weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that the federal government had no plans to increase security at airports.
Imagine if the federal government determined that it would let the airline industry decide for itself whether to beef up security at the nation's airports.
Rather than imposing mandatory security measures on the industry, it would encourage voluntary measures.
Instead, less than a week after the horrific attacks, plans were being made in Washington to take over airport security and significantly alter air travel. As a result, air travel, while sometimes inconvenient, is safer today.
Security at many of the nation's chemical plants, however, is the same today as it was on Sept. 10, 2001.
Five years after the attacks, there is still no federal law that requires chemical plants to adopt security measures to make them less vulnerable to attack, and there is no federal law that requires plants to submit to inspections so the government can assess their vulnerability to terrorists.
For the fourth straight year, legislation giving the federal government the authority to set security standards at chemical plants is being stalled by the industry.
If a chemical plant security bill does emerge from closed-door negotiations, it will likely be very similar to what the industry has been seeking, which will do very little to protect one of the nation's most vulnerable targets.
Last year, Robert Stephan, an assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, told Congress that the voluntary measures are not enough to safeguard the chemical plants.
Yet, six weeks later, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told industry representatives at a forum co-sponsored by the American Chemical Council, that the federal government would not do anything that would "destroy the businesses we're trying to protect."
Security experts have repeatedly warned that chemical plants are a prime target for terrorists, but Republican leaders in Congress are content to let a special interest undermine the nation's security.
If legislation is passed, we can only hope it contains a provision giving states the authority to impose stricter security regulations on plants.
http://www.masslive.com/editorials/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1159256673295910.xml&coll=1
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