CRS Report on CFATS Reauthorization

There is a brief note on HomeStation.typepad.com today about a recently published Congressional Research Service report about options that Congress has for reauthorization of CFATS. It quotes the introduction of the report as saying:

“This report provides a brief overview of the existing statutory authority and the regulation implementing this authority. It describes several policy issues raised in previous debates regarding chemical facility security. The report identifies policy options that might resolve components of these issues. Finally, legislation introduced in the 111th Congress is discussed.”

Unfortunately this blog from the Texas A&M Integrative Center for Homeland Security did not provide a link to the report. So I went to the Federation of American Scientists web page and they did have a link to the CRS report. A brief scan of the document looks interesting. Here is an excerpt from the table of contents:

Policy Options Maintain the Existing Regulatory Framework Extend the Sunset Date Codify Existing Regulations Alter the Existing Statutory Authority Accelerate or Decelerate Compliance Activities Incorporate Additional Facility Types Consider Inherently Safer Technologies Modify Information Security Provisions Preempt State Regulations

It is a lengthy document which I’ll try to read tonight and report on it tomorrow.