Congressional Hearings – Week of 10-10-11

In this holiday shortened week (What, you forgot about Columbus Day?) there are currently four hearings scheduled that might be of interest to the chemical security or cyber security communities; two dealing with emergency response, a DHS authorization hearing, and a small business look at GPS interference.

Emergency Response

There will be two hearings looking at emergency response at the Federal level. Neither will specifically address chemical emergency response, but one can always hope that someone will ask about planning for large scale chemical releases that could result from a terrorist attack on big chemical facility.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold their hearing on Wednesday looking at "The Federal Role in Disaster Recovery and Response." The current witness list only includes representatives from various federal agencies that might be involved in response efforts; including FEMA (obviously), the Army Corps of Engineers, and even the Department of Agriculture. Unfortunately no one from the US EPA has been included; so much for chemical issues.

On Thursday the House Transportation Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management will look at cutting the costs of emergency planning and response. Their witness list includes more of a front line look at emergency response with FEMA Administrator Fugate being the only fed testifying. The cost cutting focus does not bode well for the possibility of expanding emergency response planning for chemical incidents.

DHS Authorization

The House Homeland Security Committee will meet on Wednesday to markup HR 3116 the Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. This bill was introduced last week and the text just became available from the GPO this morning. According to the Committee web site there will probably be a substitute language amendment introduced by Chairman King (R,NY). Currently there is no specific mention of CFATS or the Ammonium Nitrate Security Program in the bill.

GPS Interference

Congress continues to look at the potential GPS interference issues associated with the proposed LightSquared broadband system. This time it will be the House Small Business Committee that will look at the GPS interference effects on small businesses. The current witness list includes representatives from airports, ag retailers, and aircraft electronics industries. Again, it doesn’t look like anyone is interested in the potential effects on control system timing issues.