| About This Archive | | DCHAS-L 2007 Index | | DCHAS-L Yearly Index | |
Check out Safety Emporium for your N95, N99, and face shield needs.
|
Previous by Date: Subject: New Orleans Meeting Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:55:31 -0400 Author: "George H. Wahl, Jr." |
Next by Date: Subject: On-line version of Journal of CHAS Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:18:05 -0500 Author: Cynthia Klein-Banai |
Below is a recent AP article on the new Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards that has been published in papers throughout the US. I've heard the new Appendix A is supposed to be released soon. Regards, Erik Talley CHAS Chair-elect ------------------------------------------------ Terror rules won't hurt chicken farmers By Kristen Wyatt and Eileen Sullivan, Associated Press Writers | October 17, 2007 WASHINGTON --Chicken farms aren't terror targets after all. The Homeland Security Department is close to releasing a list of chemicals to be included in new reporting regulations intended to keep dangerous materials out of the hands of terrorists. Under the revised list, poultry growers won't have to file complex risk assessments for the propane they use to heat their chicken houses, two sources familiar with the regulations said. An original list of 344 chemicals -- some with specific weight thresholds -- was proposed in April and caused an uproar among businesses that assumed they would be exempt from such terror-related reporting laws. Chicken farms fell under the umbrella of any business with more than 7,500 pounds of propane. "It's just silly," said Pocomoke City, Md., chicken farmer Gary Pilchard who has more than 7,500 pounds of propane at each of his six chicken houses. "That's the problem sometimes in Washington. You get folks sitting behind a desk, that might sound like a lot of propane, but in our world, that's not." The rule ruffled other feathers as well. Many of the chemicals on the department's list are found on college campuses, but in small amounts. For instance, hydrogen chloride is used in chemistry experiments in several Yale University labs, said Peter Reinhardt, the school's director of environmental health and safety. Each lab could carry between 3 and 5 pounds of hydrogen chloride at any given time, Reinhardt said. But on the Homeland Security chemicals list, any amount of hydrogen chloride would need to be reported. Of the 344 chemicals on the original list, businesses would have to report any amount of 105 of them, including hydrogen chloride. Toby Smith, a lobbyist with the Association of American Universities, said he expects the list will change to include a threshold for all the chemicals. "We do not expect to see any chemical have a threshold of 'any amount,'" Smith said based on recent conversations with department officials. The department received about 4,000 comments on the original rule. Lawmakers got behind the chicken farmers and fought for changes in the reporting requirements. At least five senators, including Iowa's Republican Chuck Grassley, wrote Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking for the propane threshold to be raised or waived for farmers. "To require farmers and small businesses to comply with these strict requirements and burdensome costs seems ridiculously disproportionate to the likelihood of a terrorist attack on an individual farm," Grassley wrote in June. Many felt the initial intent of the rule was aimed at major companies with large amounts of chemicals. "It was the kind of thing that would be in the regular course of business for a Dow chemical plant, but it would've been completely befuddling for the poultry farmer," said Richard Lobb, spokesman for the Washington-based National Chicken Council. A year ago Congress passed a law that gave the Homeland Security Department the authority to regulate the nation's most hazardous chemical plants. The list of chemicals is part of the regulations. ------ On the Net: Homeland Security list of chemicals: http://www.dhs.gov/xprevprot/laws/gc_1175537180929.shtm (c) Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
Previous post | Top of Page | Next post