Legislation Requires New Security Rules For Chemical Plants

Legislation signed by President Bush on October 4, 2006 requires the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") to publish interim-final rules on chemical plant security in the next six months. Previous analyses by DHS found that 272 chemical plants in the United States are at risk of an attack or accident that could affect at least 50,000 people and there are an additional 3,400 plants for which more than 1,000 people would be at risk of harm from an attack. (See Debate Over Security for Chemical Plants Focuses on How Strict to Make Rules, by Eric Lipton, New York Times, sec. A, Column 1, Sept. 21, 2006, Late Edition-Final.) The legislation aims to reduce these risks.

Title V of the 2007 Department of Homeland Security Appropriation Act requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish "risk-based performance standards" for chemical facilities. The regulations will also require facilities that "present high levels of security risk" to develop and implement site-specific