HOUSE EXAMINES CHEMICAL PLANT SECURITY

Abstract

AN INDUSTRY security expert last week urged lawmakers who are tracking chemical plant security to give the Department of Homeland Security and the nation’s chemical manufacturers an opportunity to fully implement existing DHS regulations to protect plant sites from terrorist attacks before making big changes. “Companies need to know that the requirements are not going to be changing in midstream. Completely rewriting those requirements will create massive uncertainty and could delay security enhancements,” said Clyde D. Miller, director of corporate security for BASF. Miller joined government officials and a union representative in testifying before the House Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Transportation Security & Infrastructure Protection, which is tracking the progress of chemical plant security regulations DHS issued on April 2. By law, those DHS regulations expire in October 2009, and Congress is laying the groundwork for legislation next year to make the plant security rule permane...