Legislation introduced in the House of Representatives this month would extend the Department of Homeland Security’s Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program for two years, while maintaining provisions that exempt drinking water and wastewater facilities from coverage under the regulations.
Sponsored by Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies Subcommittee Chairman Patrick Meehan (R-Penn.), the “CFATS Authorization and Accountability Act” (H.R. 4007) would continue many components of the current CFATS program Congress first enacted in 2006. These include requiring DHS to establish risk-based performance standards for covered chemical facilities, directing DHS to approve or disapprove site security plans, and prescribing penalties for non-compliant facilities. The bill would allow DHS to continue using the existing CFATS regulations that are already on the books, as long as they do not conflict with any part of the new bill.
Of most importance to the water utility community, the new bill specifies (as does the current CFATS law) that any facility currently regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act or the Clean Water Act may not also be regulated by DHS under CFATS – thus ensuring the bill will not affect water and wastewater facilities. H.R. 4007 would also block DHS from requiring the replacement of certain chemicals with so-called “inherently safer technologies” (IST).