Chemical Plant Security

The Editorial Board of The New York Times writes an op-ed today endorsing a bill put forth by Susan Collin and Joe Lieberman concerning chemical plant safety. I agree with the Times that the bill is good first step, but I also don't believe it goes far enough. In reading the article though I got the impression that the editors really don't have much of an idea about industry. From the Times:

If terrorists attacked a chemical plant, the death toll could be enormous. A single breached chlorine tank could, according to the Department of Homeland Security, lead to 17,500 deaths, 10,000 severe injuries and 100,000 hospitalizations. Many chemical plants have shockingly little security to defend against such attacks.

OK, without looking at the EPA's RMP list, which would be the facilities covered by this act and numbers about 15,000, I don't know what is covered. I have to believe that there are at least three times that many facilities in the US where the above mentioned chlorine tank breach could happen. The Times might consider where they buy the paper on which they print the "paper of record. There are also lots of other facilities that I wouldn't exactly consider chemical plants that this kind of disaster could strike, many with virtually no security.

I'll have to look into this a little further and get back to you.