Washington-The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Cybersecurity voted 16-2 on July 11 to approve legislation that would give the Department of Homeland Security the authority to regulate chemical plant security. The Fertilizer Institute reported that two amendments – which it and other ag groups opposed – failed, with their votes along party lines. One of those amendments would have allowed states to have differing chemical site security laws, resulting in a patchwork of laws versus one national standard. The other would have required environmental provisions in the bill that would have called for companies to use “inherently safer technology.” The ag groups said this inclusion would have expanded the language of the bill beyond its intent and prompt costly environmental and worker safety policies that are not germane to securing facilities from a terrorist threat.
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