In testimony regarding the Chemical Security Act of 2001 before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics, Risk, and Waste Management, William Stanley, regulatory manager at Deepwater Chemicals, said small-batch and specialty chemical manufacturers are not likely targets for terrorist attacks.
Stanley, a member of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) Employee and Process Safety Committee, testified on behalf of the association that small companies like Deepwater — typical of 75% of SOCMA members — operate many of their processes indoors, have small quantities of chemicals on-site, and are located in nondescript buildings that cannot easily be identified as a chemical manufacturer.
He said, “We are committed to protecting our employees, communities, and the environment. At Deepwater, we regularly inventory our supply of materials and products, conduct routine security assessments, and communicate with our emergency responders and local government officials. These activities are part of normal industry business practices.”
SOCMA advocates taking a risk-based approach to chemical site security, as detailed in the recently released Site Security Guidelines. The voluntary guidelines are available on SOCMA's web site at www.socma.com and are the cornerstone of a series of five free workshops to be offered around the nation over the next few months.