Truly A Dangerous Mix

Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff made the rounds last year among the happily-departed 109th Repug Congress and chemical businesses to improve the security of chemical plants in this country against the threat of a terrorist attack (or so he’s told us).

But before you get your hopes up, remember once again that we’re taking about Mike (“City Of Louisiana”) Chertoff here, OK?

As noted in this Washington Post story, Chertoff said the federal government should be responsible for plant safety…

"...but that it should rely on the industry to devise its own way to meet targets and use private contractors to audit compliance."

Am I the only one who smells trouble brewing here?

That’s a rhetorical question, actually. I know the answer is no, based on another New York Times editorial from yesterday.

The new Democratic leadership in Congress has a chance to finally do what the Republican Congress and the Bush administration failed to do after Sept. 11: to protect the nation’s chemical plants from an attack. Lawmakers should stop the Homeland Security Department from adopting new regulations that would block state and local governments from doing more to protect their residents and should pass a federal law with teeth.

An attack on a single plant could release deadly chemicals that could put hundreds of thousands of people at risk of death or serious injury. But since Sept. 11, the chemical industry – a major campaign contributor – has managed to ward off any significant new federal rules that might require it to spend money to increase security.

Now it is going a step further by trying to get the federal government to “pre-empt,” or invalidate, state and local efforts to impose safety standards. Supporters of pre-emption always claim that they just want a uniform standard. But in situations like this one – where the federal law is absurdly weak – it is obvious that the real agenda is to block serious safety measures at every level of government.

Congress wisely refused to include a pre-emption provision in the legislation it adopted last year. Now, however, the Homeland Security Department has proposed regulations that would give itself the authority to pre-empt state and local laws. If the proposed regulations were adopted, they could wipe away the serious chemical plant security law that New Jersey just passed, and prevent other states and cities from requiring the chemical industry to do more to protect their residents.

It is up to Congress to act. It should block these deeply flawed regulations and move quickly to pass a comprehensive law that imposes tough requirements on chemical plants to harden their facilities.

Last year, Congress passed a bad rider, backed by the industry, that gives the chemical industry far too much leeway to decide on its own how its plants are vulnerable and how to protect them. The new law should contain specific requirements for plant safety. It should also require companies to switch to safer chemicals when the cost is not prohibitive, a key safety measure that the industry has resisted. And it should clearly state that federal chemical plant laws do not pre-empt state and local laws. Congress should finally put the public’s safety ahead of the chemical industry’s bottom line.

Apparently, the way Chertoff plans to allow the chemical industry to police itself is to make sure it has to abide by the most toothless regulations possible, regardless of where they originate (federal, state, or local government), eliminating those which interfere with their profitability.

Please contact Congress here and tell them to reject the proposed Homeland Security Department “regulations” on chemical plant safety. And while you’re at it, why not tell them to ask Chertoff why, since he apparently wants to do favors for the chemical industry at the expense of our health, he doesn’t get a job with one of these businesses and leave government altogether at long last.

One more thing - tomorrow may be another "little-to-no-posting" day...lots of other stuff going on, so we'll see.