Justice Department details new security guidelines for chemical facilities

By the OGJ editors

WASHINGTON, DC, June 18 -- The Department of Justice June 17 released new security guidelines for refineries and other industrial plants, including about 15,000 chemical facilities nationwide. DOJ said the "assessment tool" would be used in identifying and assessing potential security threats, risks and vulnerabilities.

"The department's concerns regarding security at chemical facilities are well-known and documented," said DOJ official Deborah J. Daniels. "The risk assessment methodology provided today will be a critically valuable tool that industry can use to help protect chemical plants against possible terrorist activity."

Responding to the government's announcement, industry officials noted that for months companies have been voluntarily working with various federal agencies to come up with something similar. "The American Petroleum Institute, for example, has written guidelines for the industry to analyze itself and its potential security vulnerabilities so it can be prepared if a terrorist attacks an industry facility," an API spokesman said.

DOE assistance
In developing its own methodology, the justice department in conjunction with the Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories said it focused primarily on terrorist or criminal activities that could have a widespread "national" impact. The agencies also considered localized situations where the release of hazardous chemicals might compromise the integrity of a facility, cause serious injuries or fatalities among facility employees, contaminate adjoining areas, and cause injuries or fatalities among nearby populations.

"The methodology provides a tool that facilities can use to identify risks and reduce the likelihood of attacks. In general, the most common approach to reducing potential attacks and catastrophic events is increasing protection measures against specific attack scenarios. The methodology provides chemical facility operators specific assessment and evaluation tools based on potential risks and attack scenarios," DOJ officials said.

In developing the methodology, DOJ and Sandia collected and reviewed extensive information relevant to threats, risks, and vulnerabilities associated with chemical facilities; conducted outreach with field offices, including meetings and discussions with a range of industry, government, citizen representatives and private individuals; created a web site to describe the development effort and solicit comments; and inspected a number of chemical facilities across the country.

Congressional action
In a related effort, industry is largely supporting and green groups denouncing a pending bill by Sen. Christopher Bond (R-Mo.) designed to restrict public access to information about worst-case accident scenarios at refineries and other chemical facilities.

Industry maintains that the current availability of such information may put plants and the communities in which they reside at a higher risk of terrorist attack.

Environmentalists and free-speech lobbyists meanwhile maintain that local officials and residents need access to accident scenarios so they can mitigate the much larger risk of accidents.

Bond, however, maintains, "The threat from terrorist attack now outweighs the benefits of making this information public."

No hearings on the measure have been held yet.