As investigators continue their work following last month’s fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, two Democratic lawmakers are calling on President Obama to establish a “Blue Ribbon Commission” to examine chemical facility security issues and “determine what should be done” to prevent future incidents.
In a letter sent to President Obama last week, House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Democrat Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Homeland Security Committee Ranking Democrat Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) repeated longstanding criticisms of DHS’s Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program, which was established in 2007 to oversee chemical plant security.
Reps. Waxman and Thompson are vague about the responsibilities of the proposed commission, but both have previously supported proposals that would empower the government to force chemical facilities to adopt so-called “inherently safer technologies” (IST) in place of certain hazardous chemicals and to apply similar regulations to the nation’s water and wastewater systems. Those proposals have not had traction in Congress in recent years, but supporters would likely encourage any commission on chemical plant security to consider such options.