Today's hearing will examine the EPA's Risk Management Plan Program, as required under the Clean Air Act. While I agree with the program's intentions, the need to make emergency information available to local emergency response personnel, I have serious concerns with the manner in which the EPA is implementing the program. I believe the EPA is flat out wrong in including substances on the list for flammability reasons alone, and I believe they are creating a system which could be used by terrorists for targeting facilities as potential sites for domestic terrorism.
First, regarding flammable substances, the purpose of the provision in the Clean Air Act is to safeguard local communities against accidents involving toxic chemicals. The Act provided OSHA with the authority to issue regulations to protect workers against chemical accidents and provided EPA with the authority to protect the citizens who live around the plant from escaping toxic fumes. EPA regulating propane under this provision is regulatory overreach into an area in which they are not the principle regulatory body, and it is outside their area of expertise. It appears that we have a case of regulatory second-guessing by another Agency.
I am concerned that through this regulation, the Federal government is picking favorites between fuels, which is clearly outside the intent of Congress in the Clean Air Act. The result of including propane on the list will be fuel-switching, potentially driving propane dealers out of business. We have already seen a case where fuel switching is being encouraged by local governments.
We have a copy of a letter by the Orange County California regulating Agency where they recommend that propane users either reduce the amount of propane they keep on hand, OR switch to a non-regulated substance in order to avoid the EPA rule. When a local government Agency sends out letters like this because of an EPA rule, then there is a problem with the rule. This is unacceptable. The EPA has no business deciding which fuels should be encouraged. I am interested in hearing from Mr. Bertelsmeyer with the Propane Gas Association about this fuel switching issue.
I am also concerned that as far as fuels are concerned, this RMP rule duplicates other regulations by OSHA, the National Fire Protection Association, and State regulations. I have a chart which shows the duplication between this rule and the other regulations. I would like Mr. Fields to explain exactly what is different in the EPA rule compared to the other regulations and then during the second panel I would like Mr. Bertelsmeyer to respond.
My second major concern with this rule is the potential use of this information by terrorists. If they have access to the worst-case scenario data, they can use the information to target potential bombing sites. You can already find information on the Internet on how to make a bomb, the last thing we need is information collected by the EPA being used to select targets in communities around the country. I do not want any other community to experience pain and suffering that the people of Oklahoma City experienced just four years ago.
Last spring we asked the FBI to take a look at the worst-case scenario data and EPA's plans to disseminate the information on the Internet. I am pleased that the FBI convinced the EPA that it would be foolhardy to release the information. However, that is not the end of the problem. Anyone can request and receive the data from EPA through the FOIA process, and EPA will have to comply. I understand that the Agency is examining different technological methods to protect the information, but I have serious doubts that they have enough time to adequately protect the information before the June 21st deadline. To help us understand these issues we will have a security expert and a FOIA expert on our third panel.
I believe EPA has lost sight of the purpose of this data, we need to make sure the local emergency personnel have access to the information and not provide a forum for terrorists around the world to target and blow-up facilities in our neighborhoods.