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AP: Kerry Wants Chem Plant Safety Reviews

Posted on: Wednesday, 28 April 2004, 06:00 CDT

WASHINGTON - Democrat John Kerry, accusing the Bush administration of failing to protect chemical plants, says he would require them to assess their risks of catastrophic attack and use less dangerous chemicals when possible.

Kerry's plan, which he was expected to outline in a speech Thursday in Philadelphia, closely mirrors legislation he co-sponsored in early 2003 with Sen. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., and other Democrats. It stalled in the Senate over opposition from Republicans, who said it sought to inappropriately micromanage the nation's $450 billion chemical industry.

Kerry was to say that President Bush - who has emphasized voluntary efforts by chemical plants to improve security - has accommodated the industry because of campaign contributions from executives.

The Bush campaign responded that Congress is already considering many of the proposals Kerry cited.

"John Kerry is calling for measures that the president has advocated and is contained in legislation already before the Senate," said campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt. He accused Kerry of "playing politics with homeland security."

Kerry's campaign cited pledges to Bush during 2000 and 2004 of at least $1.5 million from 15 fund-raisers it said were tied to the chemical industry. The campaign also cited nearly $6.5 million in soft-money contributions - corporate, union or unlimited donations - from the industry to Republicans during the 2000 and 2002 campaigns.

Kerry would require the Department of Homeland Security to review and certify vulnerability studies for chemical plants deemed high-priority targets. There presently are no legal requirements for such plants to assess vulnerabilities or take security actions to guard against a terrorist attack, although the industry's leading trade group, the American Chemistry Council, requires its members to do so.

"George Bush is misleading the American people when he says we're doing all we need to do to protect our homeland," Kerry campaign spokesman Chad Clanton said. "For more than two years, his own administration has recognized this vulnerability, but they stubbornly refuse to act because his chemical industry contributors opposed it."

The spokesman for the organization within the Department of Homeland Security that would be responsible for such audits did not return telephone and e-mail messages late Wednesday.

A key Senate committee approved a compromise bill supported by Republicans in October 2003 that would require security assessments to be sent to Homeland Security, but would not require any formal certification or approval.

An industry spokesman, the chemistry council's Marty Durbin, said government should consider auditing a percentage of all companies' vulnerability studies, not each one.

"At least that provides for an incentive," Durbin said.

The compromise bill also would require plant operators to study the use of less dangerous chemicals at facilities but would not require their use. That measure was supported by Democrats and many environmentalists, and Kerry has proposed requiring such uses of safer technologies whenever possible.

A spokesman for Rep. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said requiring chemical plants to make such changes was a bad idea. "What we're saying is, 'Don't mandate what the chemical companies make and how they do their business,'" spokesman Will Hart said.

The Environmental Protection Agency found previously that 123 U.S. chemical facilities have toxic "worst-case" scenarios where more than 1 million people in surrounding areas could be at risk of exposure to a cloud of toxic gas if a release occurred, and that 700 plants could threaten at least 100,000 people nearby.

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On the Net:

Kerry campaign: http://www.johnkerry.com

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