Bills Introduced – 4-25-13

Yesterday saw the introduction of just one bill in the Senate that might be expected to be of specific interest to the chemical security community. That bill was:

S 814 Latest Title: A bill to provide stronger penalties for violations of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards. Sponsor: Sen Lautenberg, Frank R. (D,NJ) 

While a copy of the bill is not yet available a press release by Lautenberg’s office notes that the bill would establish additional civil penalties and add criminal penalties for facilities and their officers that fail to file a Top Screen report when they have inventories of DHS chemicals of interest (COI) at or above the screening threshold quantities (STQ) established in the CFATS regulations.

The press release makes it clear that this bill was introduced in response to the news that the West Fertilizer facility that exploded last week had not filed a Top Screen for either the anhydrous ammonia or ammonium nitrate stored at the facility.