Congressional Auditor: Chemical Plants Vulnerable

By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, March 19, 2003 (ENS) - A new report from the General Accounting Office finds that the Bush administration and Congress have done little to safeguard the nation's chemical plants, despite their repeated warnings that these facilities are potential terrorist targets.

The extent of security preparedness at U.S. chemical facilities is "unknown," according to the General Accounting Office (GAO) report released Tuesday, and there are no federal laws that "explicitly require" chemical companies to assess their vulnerability or take security actions to protect facilities from attack.

The report came one day after the Bush administration raised the nation's terror alert level to Code Orange, the second highest level of security alert on the five tier scale, and warned that there is a "near certainty" of a terrorist attack.

Homeland Security Department Secretary Tom Ridge agreed that the security of the nation's chemical plants is a "legitimate concern," but offered no specific measures that his department is pursuing beyond increased surveillance of facilities near waterways by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The agency is coordinating efforts that include "enhanced security around these facilities in the days ahead," Ridge told reporters Tuesday.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has put the nation on high alert for a possible terrorist attack. (Photo courtesy Department of Homeland Security)

"As the President talks about the increased risks of terrorist attacks here at home and Governor Ridge raises the national threat level again, this report confirms that chemical facilities are obvious targets for terrorists, endangering the millions of Americans who live and work around them," said Senator Jon Corzine, a Democrat from New Jersey. "As we embark on the war in Iraq, we also need to act quickly to strengthen our security against the attacks that are likely here at home."

Within the past year announcements have been made the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security that the administration is working proposals to address the concern, but nothing has yet been submitted to Congress.

"The GAO's findings should serve as a wake up call to the Bush administration that it can no longer drag its feet on chemical security, and must immediately address the serious vulnerability of our nation's chemical facilities," said New Jersey Representative Frank Pallone, a Democrat.

Pallone and fellow Democratic Representative John Dingell of Michigan requested the report from the GAO, which is the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress.

Of the nation's 15,000 chemical facilities, the GAO report said that 123 are close enough to potentially endanger more than one million people if a terrorist attack occurred.

Some 700 are close enough to put 100,000 at risk, and about 2,900 are close enough to put at least 10,000 lives at risk.

There is a serious lack of information on the security risks posed by a potential terrorist attack on a chemical facility and no coordinated plan exists to address what security measures should be taken to prevent an attack, the report finds.

The federal government is unsure of the potential risks from a terrorist attack on a chemical plant. (Photo courtesy Sandia National Laboratories)

And the Justice Department, GAO finds, has failed to deliver to Congress a comprehensive list of the chemical industry's security risks, even though this report was due on Capitol Hill in August 2002. Chemical facilities are not subject to federal security standards like nuclear plants and drinking water facilities. Without specific legislation, federal officials have little authority to force chemical plant owners to take any security measures.

But some federal laws do provide authority for some oversight. For example, EPA has said the Clean Air Act does provide this authority, but the agency has declined to use it for fear of litigation, according to the GAO report.

EPA has concluded that the risks are best addressed by specific legislation.

The report agrees and suggests that the administration propose legislation "to require these chemical facilities to expeditiously assess their vulnerability to terrorist attacks and, where necessary, require these facilities to take corrective action."

Without adequate protection, chemical facilities present terrorists with "a perfect weapon," said Representative Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat. (Photo courtesy Representative Pallone's office)

"More than a year and a half since 9/11, the government has done next to nothing to ensure chemical plant security," said Jon Devine, an attorney with Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental group.

Both the administration and the Congress "have absolutely dropped the ball," said Jeremiah Baumann, an environmental health advocate for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a public interest advocacy organization.

A Senate bill addressing the issue died last year after seven Republican Senators who had supported the bill during discussions within the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee reversed their positions and urged the full Senate not to consider it.

The bill, called the Chemical Security Act, would have required chemical plants to submit vulnerability assessments as well as plans to increase security and implement safer practices.

The bill went nowhere, Baumann said, because of intense lobbying efforts by chemical industry, who are wary of increased regulation and did not want EPA overseeing security issues.

A similar proposal supported last summer by Ridge and EPA Administrator Christie Whitman fell by the wayside after the White House told its officials to withdraw their support.

President George W. Bush has aggressively warned of the potential of terrorist attacks, but GAO's report finds his administration has not followed through with action to protect chemical plants. (Photo courtesy the White House)

The new chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe, has also said he is working on a proposal.

Inhofe was one of the members who reversed their stance on last year's bill, which has been reintroduced by Senators James Jeffords, an Independent from Vermont, and Jon Corzine, a Democrat of New Jersey.

Within the House, Pallone said he will introduce legislation to address security concerns at chemical plants this week.

The GAO report notes that there have been some voluntary efforts by the $450 billion chemical industry to assess and tighten security at its facilities, but the extent of these efforts is "unknown."

The debate should not just be about how to protect chemical plants, Baumann said, it should be about how to reduce the potential of the threat posed by the facilities by switching to safer chemicals and processes.

"This is an opportunity to change the way we do business," he said. "Simply posting more guards is not the answer."