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Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today sent a letter to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Chairman, urging her to eliminate a provision from chemical security legislation she is drafting that would override new state requirements implemented last week by New Jersey Acting Governor Dick Codey (D-NJ).
The New Jersey congressman commended Collins for taking the leadership to address the need for legislation to secure of chemical facilities, but he also expressed concern that her draft legislation has would preempt the ability of states to set their own regulations on chemical security plants.
In his letter, Pallone asked Collins to eliminate the provisions in Sec. 13 of her draft legislation, which preempts states, local governments, and Indian tribes from developing legislation that is 'not substantively the same as a provision' in the federal bill. (A COPY OF PALLONE'S LETTER FOLLOWS)
Pallone wrote that he is particularly concerned that waivers for exemptions from preemption can be denied unless the exemption "is not an unreasonable burden on commerce." Pallone believes that given the potential danger to human life posed by these chemical plants, it is troubling that impacts to commerce could be used to invalidate security protections.
"New Jersey is home to a large number of chemical facilities, mostly concentrated in densely populated areas," Pallone wrote in his letter to Collins. "Given this particularly acute and dangerous situation, it makes sense that the state should be able to use its own resources to go above and beyond federal regulations to maintain a greater level of protection."
New Jersey is home to 140 chemical plants, seven of which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified as among the most dangerous in the nation due to the potential for a toxic release to kill or injure more than one million people.
In response to these continued threats, New Jersey recently announced the country's first state regulations governing chemical security. These regulations require all 140 plants to complete security assessments and for the 43 plants that pose the greatest danger to review adopting inherently safer technologies.
Pallone wrote that the state has taken these actions in the face of a federal government that has done little with regard to chemical security in the more than four years since September 11th. Moreover, even if federal regulations are developed, the New Jersey congressman believes there is no reason why states should not be able to make their own, stronger regulations.
For the past three Congresses, Pallone has introduced the Chemical Security Act in the House, but the House Republican leadership and the House Energy and Commerce Committee have yet to consider the legislation.
The Chemical Security Act (H.R. 2237) requires EPA and the Department of Homeland Security to work together to identify “high priority” chemical facilities. Once identified, these facilities would be required to assess vulnerabilities and hazards, and then develop and implement a plan to improve security and use safer technologies within 18 months.
Pallone's legislation would use several factors to identify high priority facilities, including: the severity of harm that could be caused by a release, proximity to population centers, threats to national security or critical infrastructure, threshold quantities of substances of concern that pose a serious threat, and other safety factors that the EPA Administrator considers appropriate. |
