All Posts from August 14, 2006

Security takes center stage: bomb scare in U.K.; explosives arrest in Ohio; boat jumpers in NOLA

Security concerns took center stage last week with news that the United Kingdom had arrested 21 people for plotting to use liquid explosives (hydrogen peroxide mixed with other products) to blow up airplanes headed from the U.K. to the United States. The Fertilizer Institute participated in a conference call Thursday morning, Aug. 10, conducted for the chemical sector by Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection Robert Stephan regarding the incident.

The Department of Homeland Security raised the threat level to red for all flights coming to the U.S. from the U.K. The threat level for all domestic flights remains at orange. They reported that there is no evidence of plotting in the U.S. The Transportation Security Administration has taken action to immediately ban liquids of any kind in carry-on baggage on domestic flights – all liquids must be contained in checked baggage. TSA has initiated increased screening procedures for all baggage, whether carry-on or checked.

In the meantime, last week in the U.S. a Youngstown, Ohio, resident was arrested with 81 fifty-pound bags of ammonium nitrate, along with other potentially explosive chemicals in his possession, and faces both local and federal bomb-making charges, according to authorities. The man, identified as Randall Telshaw, 53, has already been charged with intent to produce an explosive device and could face federal action by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Besides the nitrate, there was aluminum powder, smokeless black powder, and potassium perchlorate, along with several assault rifles and a bazooka, several hundred rounds of ammunition, and 73 bazooka shells.

Lt. Kevin Johnson, arson investigator with the Youngstown fire department, told Green Markets that authorities don’t know where the suspect got the large quantity of fertilizer. Johnson said possession of the nitrate alone is not a violation in Ohio. Anyone can buy any quantity, Johnson said, but a new law in the state comes into play when there is a combination of materials such as the suspect possessed. “He didn’t have the fertilizer for agriculture purposes,” he added.

The state agriculture department’s fertilizer section confirmed that Ohio presently has no restrictions or registration requirements for purchasing ammonium nitrate, although concerns have been expressed by the state’s homeland security officials. Two bills are still pending in Congress that would give the federal Homeland Security agency authority to regulate AN sales or would establish a tracking system for sales of the fertilizer.

On top of that, the U.S. was looking for 11 Egyptian students who did not show up for classes at Montana State University.

Add to that an incident on a urea vessel in New Orleans. One Turkish national drowned Aug. 5 when fleeing federal authorities. Three Turkish nationals came into the port on the AS-1, a Turkish vessel, which was in the process of discharging urea in the New Orleans area for ConAgra Trading Co. The company owned only the urea, not the vessel. One individual was reportedly arrested onboard the vessel, while two jumped. One jumper drowned and his body was recovered ten miles downriver; the other remains at large. The one arrested was to be deported. Sources said red flags went up for federal officials when they saw that at least two of the three had previously been deported.

ARA, TFI voice concerns with transportation security requirements

The Agricultural Retailers Association in late July voiced support for a House bill that seeks to address problems with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) and the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) fingerprint and background check program for applicants seeking a commercial driver’s license with a hazardous materials endorsement (HME).

In a July 25 letter to Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.), the sponsor of the Professional Driver Background Check Efficiency Act (H.R.5560), ARA President Jack Eberspacher and Chairman Dave Coppess said the current TSA background check program “is causing undue hardship” for rural commercial drivers seeking an HME for the first time or trying to obtain approval for their existing one. “There is already a current shortage of CDL drivers in rural areas and this TSA program is only helping exacerbate the problem,” the letter said.

ARA lauded H.R.5560 for establishing a fee cap of $50 per individual to conduct a threat assessment/background check, which it said was “a more reasonable amount” than the current $100 fee. In addition, ARA said H.R.5560 would ensure that a driver who has already undergone and passed a hazmat background check should not be subject to a redundant check or have to pay an additional fee. ARA said it supports the “harmonization of background checks in order to eliminate duplicative programs that are unnecessarily costing industry and taxpayer dollars to administer.”

Meanwhile, The Fertilizer Institute in July voiced concerns to the Department of Transportation regarding another key transportation issue facing the fertilizer industry – a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) from DHS, TSA, and the U.S. Coast Guard to promulgate the transportation worker identification credential (TWIC) requirements mandated by the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA).

The TWIC program would require all individuals with unescorted access to secure areas of American ports and Coast Guard regulated facilities to undergo a security threat assessment to determine whether or not they pose a security risk. Following the threat assessment, the TWIC, which would contain biometric information such as a fingerprint, would be issued to individuals desiring unescorted access.

“Because of TFI’s diverse membership and the regular shipment of bulk fertilizers by barge and vessel, many TFI members have facilities regulated by MTSA,” wrote TFI President Ford West in a July 6 letter to the DOT. “In addition, two fertilizer products are classified as Certain Dangerous Cargo (CDC), bringing under jurisdiction of this NPRM many retail and wholesale warehouses on our nation’s inland water system. TFI estimates there will be approximately 300-400 fertilizer facilities that are required to comply with these regulations. As a result, these regulations are of substantial interest.”

TFI said it was concerned that the NPRM’s definition of “secure areas” and “escort,” as well as its enrollment processes, would put a financial burden on TWIC applicants and owners/operators, as well as on small fertilizer businesses. “TFI believes, by changing the definition of secure area to restricted area and allowing facilities to utilize technology to escort and monitor the movements of non-TWIC holders, TSA will help facilities and applicants mitigate much of the financial burden of this NPRM,” the letter said.

TFI argued that the number of people needing access to a facility ?Çô including FedEx, UPS, and USPS delivery personnel, contractors, plumbers, etc. ?Çô is well beyond the “nexus of transportation” that TSA accounts for in the NPRM. TFI also referred to the maintenance turnarounds that take place regularly at fertilizer production facilities, arguing that TSA “does not fully understand the nature of fertilizer manufacturing.”

During these turnarounds, TFI said, an MTSA regulated manufacturing facility “will hire hundreds of additional personnel on a limited short-term contract” for the purpose of updating and performing inspections and repairs. “TFI believes that requiring these ‘turnaround’ vendors, workers, and contractors to obtain a TWIC would expand the scope of TWIC implementation beyond that of ‘transportation workers,’” the letter said.

TFI also said TSA’s list of potential TWIC enrollment sites is “grossly inadequate” for the number and location of regulated facilities, recommending instead that TSA utilize “mobile or self-service enrollment sites conveniently located on or in the vicinity of regulated facilities.”

TFI also addressed the issue of redundancy, noting various state programs that already exist for the purpose of supplying port identification credentials. “The original intent of TWIC was to require a single criminal background investigation and transportation identification credential to transportation workers,” TFI said. “Allowing states to maintain credentialing systems, outside of TWIC, defeats the purpose of implementing a national transportation worker credential.” TFI proposed instead that TSA allow individuals to maintain a single port identity card, phasing out state programs when current credentials reach expiration.

The NPRM also requires owner/operators to maintain records for two years of all individuals granted access to secure areas of a facility, a requirement that TFI says should be reduced to a maximum of sixty days of recordkeeping.

TSA’s deadline for comments on the 66-page NPRM was July 6, but TFI asked for a 60-day extension to continue reviewing the document.