Mandy Mott

October 27, 2006

On October 5, 2006, in the small town of Apex, about fourteen miles west of Raleigh, NC, a building at a hazardous waste plant burst into flames. The blaze began late Thursday night and was not fully extinguished until very early Saturday morning. Many residents were forced to evacuate their homes for these two days. Upon return, these same residents were compelled to consider the lingering health and environmental risks of the explosions. Although the specific chemicals causing the blast remain unknown, one thing is certain: chemicals were involved.

In light of the heightened risk of a terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 2001 and the tremendous threat a chemical plant disaster poses on health and the environment, it is important for legislators to consider chemical plant regulation. As of today, no statute or regulation exists to protect Americans from such attacks on a chemical plant. Since 2001 the chemical industry has successfully convinced lawmakers that self regulation would suffice. Although some plants successfully enforced such rules, others severely fail to do so. Therefore this summer, after much deliberation, the United States House of Representatives and Senate agreed on a bill to secure chemical plants. The American Chemistry Council suggested this legislation be "risk-based and performance oriented."

And it so appeared. The legislation considered would give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the authority to require some high-risk facilities to use safer chemicals when feasible. This bill, however, has been blocked from moving ahead and instead will materialize in a rider to the DHS appropriations bill. Instead of a transparent process, this extremely public issue will now be determined in secrecy. And instead of imposing explicit security measures, the rider will simply give the DHS the authority to require chemical plants to develop vulnerability assessments and security plans. With the impending elections, it is improbable that any legislator will vote against the DHS.

It is time that elected officials start making effective decisions regarding chemical plant security that will ensure the safety and health of their constituents, as well as that of the surrounding environment.

For more information, visit:

Chemical Plants, Still Unprotected, N.Y. Times, Sept. 25, 2006 at A28.

Alexandra Marks, Chemical Plant Security Vexes Congress, The Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 15, 2006, available at http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0915/p03s02-uspo.html

Elizabeth Dunbar, All Evacuated Residents Allowed Home, Oct. 7, 2006, available at http://www.examiner.com ( http://www.examiner.com/ ).

Apex Mayor: Fire fizzling; evacuees can't go home yet, Oct. 6, 2006,available at http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/06/plant.fire/index.html.