Chemical Security Bill Withstanding Industry Assault

Today the House Homeland Security Committee continues its deliberations on a bill that improves security and accountability at chemical facilities. The bill, which would reauthorize and greatly enhance existing security procedures for chemical plants, has so far weathered well the repeated attacks by committee Republicans to gut it.

Although there have been a few casualties, their impact will need to be analyzed further and the most destructive of Republican amendments have so far been unsuccessful.

Provisions requiring facilities to assess safer alternative technologies and for the most dangerous facilities to implement safer alternatives have so far survived. The ability of citizens to sue the government or companies for failing to comply with the law remains, as do other accountability provisions of the bill. A move by Republicans to exempt a huge swathe of facilities also failed.

The committee has several more Republican amendments to consider. Debate on these changes will be held this afternoon, but the House schedule has forced all further voting in the committee to be delayed until Wednesday. With luck and the continued hard work of the "Blue Green Coalition" of labor, environmental, and public interest groups, the bill hopefully will emerge from this committee mostly unscathed.