Following in the footsteps of two House Committees, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last month approved a version of chemical facility security legislation that would maintain the water and wastewater sector’s exemption from the Department of Homeland Security’s CFATS program.
Sponsored by Ranking Republican Susan Collins (R-Maine), the Senate’s version (S. 473) is nearly identical to a CFATS extension bill the Senate panel approved last summer, but did not receive a vote on the Senate floor. The measure would extend the current CFATS program for three years, introduce a new voluntary technical assistance program for chemical facility operators, and not apply to drinking water and wastewater facilities. The bill would not mandate the adoption of so-called inherently safer technologies (IST).
While the bill passed the committee by a wide margin, Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said that he hoped senators would consider floor amendments to the bill that would allow the government to require facilities to use IST. Lieberman also said that drinking water and wastewater utilities should be included in CFATS, but that view has previously received pushback from senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee, who largely believe water facility oversight should remain with EPA.
Earlier this year, the House Homeland Security and Energy and Commerce Committees each approved their own versions of legislation to extend CFATS while not applying the program to water systems or mandating the review or adoption of IST. Neither of those bills (H.R. 901 and H.R. 908) have yet been scheduled for a vote on the House floor.
Similarly, Republican leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have indicated a willingness to consider stand-alone legislation that may require drinking water systems to update their existing vulnerability assessments and emergency response plans, but work on such a measure is not expected to begin until after the full House votes on the separate CFATS bill.