New Security Blog

I ran across an excellent review of this week’s hearing before Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on a relatively new security blog, the ASDWA Security Notes. The ASDWA is the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators and this new blog looks at security issues affecting water treatment facilities. While not strictly speaking a chemical security blog (as there are many more security issues facing water treatment facilities than just chemical security) this blog will be watched for its take on the chemical security issues facing such facilities. Bridget O’Grady, in her description of the Lautenberg Water Facility Security Act, makes an interesting point about IST, noting that: “calls for states and utilities to make “inherently safer technology” determinations (although that term does not appear in the legislative language)”. Neither the WFSA nor the House passed version of HR 2868 ever mentions ‘IST’ or ‘inherently safer technology’. Instead they both use the term ‘actions to reduce the consequences of a terrorist attack’. I’m sure that the reasons that the drafters of these two bills avoided the term ‘inherently safer technology’ or ‘IST’ was to avoid the type of conflict and confrontation that have routinely been associated with those terms when used in the security context. The problem with the suspect terms is that they have taken on separate meanings in the chemical and the advocacy communities which cause the two sides to talk passed one another. Unfortunately those plans of avoiding conflicting terminology were subverted by the supporters and the politicians on both sides of the issue who continue to use language that obfuscates the solutions by putting up unbreakable walls between the two sides. Oh well, such is politics in the US today. In any case, I’ll continue to watch the new ASDWA blog and I will point out any new information or views they identify on chemical security issues at water treatment facilities; the more voices involved in the discussion, the better. Welcome.