The House is considering the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009 (H.R. 2868) this week. The current regulations, set to expire soon, prohibit the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from requiring the use of inherently safer technologies. This replacement bill, H.R. 2868, would permanently extend and expand DHS oversight of chemical sites.
In addition, an amendment offered by Representatives Bill Foster (D-IL) Ben Luján (D-NM) (the Foster-Luján amendment) was recently approved. The amendment changes H.R. 2868 so that it now directs DHS to "establish, as appropriate, modified or separate standards, protocols, and procedures for security vulnerability assessments and site security plans for covered chemical facilities that are also academic laboratories." The ACS and its Act4chemistry Network worked over the past week to include this language in the final bill.
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