WASHINGTON, DC, April 2, 2007 -- Joe Acker, President of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA), released the following statement on the Department of Homeland Security's Chemical Site Security Regulations announced today. SOCMA will have further comments in the coming days as we analyze the rule.
"SOCMA wants to commend DHS for their hard work in promulgating these regulations. We support the phased-in approach to the rules, but would like to have seen more time given for companies to perform their security vulnerability assessment (SVA), especially small companies with limited resources. The shortened time frame will make it extremely difficult for companies to evaluate the new rules and then perform the appropriate tasks in the prescribed time frame required by the rule.
"Secondly, DHS's decision to limit alternative SVA's to only Tier 4 facilities is disappointing. Facilities that have taken the proper action over the last 5 years -- which include all of SOCMA's member facilities -- will need to unnecessarily re-conduct risk assessments, even though nothing has changed in their overall risk profiles.
"Lastly, SOCMA understands and supports DHS's intent to use guidance for assisting facilities in meeting the new security standards. SOCMA expects that many risk reduction measures that could be taken by facilities will not be captured in the guidance. These risk reduction measures should be given the same consideration as measures found in the DHS guidance materials.
"We look forward to continuing to work with DHS to safeguard SOCMA member facilities. We are confident that SOCMA members have taken the appropriate steps to meet the standards through their commitment to SOCMA's mandatory ChemStewards® program."
The rule can be found on the DHS website at http://www.dhs.gov.
SOCMA is the leading trade association, serving the specialty-batch and custom chemical industry since 1921. SOCMA's nearly 300 members employ more than 100,000 workers across the country and produce 50,000 products valued at $60 billion annually.
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