As DHS Plans Chemical Guidelines; N.J. Is Ready to Fight
A dispute between some lawmakers and the Department of Homeland Security over chemical plant security guidelines may come to a head as DHS sets rules that could pre-empt harsher state regulations.
Several offices on Capitol Hill tell U.S. News that they're readying for a possible release of finalized guidelines as early as the end of this week; DHS faces an April 4 deadline. The timing is important to some lawmakers who are trying to enact legislation that is likely to be at variance with the guidelines.
"We think they want to get finalized regulations out before the House can push through legislation," explains one congressional staffer who has closely followed the issue. The emergency supplemental appropriations bill in the House currently contains a clause that would take away DHS's pre-emption authority. At a hearing on the topic earlier this week, an official with DHS's Office of Infrastructure Protection criticized the House appropriations measure, saying it would force DHS to impose federal fines on facilities not obeying state and local laws and undermine DHS's ability to protect from disclosure proprietary information transmitted by chemical plants to DHS.
If DHS's finalized regulations still include the pre-emption authority, they're expected to come under immediate fire from the state of New Jersey, which has the toughest chemical plant regulations in the country and is led by Gov. Jon Corzine, who fought when he was a senator for chemical plant security legislation.
One expert who has followed the issue and advised various legislative offices says Corzine is planning "to take DHS to court" if it insists on pre-emption. New Jersey currently requires high-risk chemical plants to conduct studies on using "inherently safer technology" (IST)–a process that usually involves limiting the storage or use of the most dangerous chemicals on site, so as to make a facility a less attractive terrorist target. IST is not expected to be included in the finalized DHS regulations.
Corzine, though, has upped the ante: On Friday of last week, he added 52 new chemical plants to the 42 high-risk facilities that were already required to conduct the IST studies.