Testimony indicates small chemical manufacturers not likely terrorists targets

Nov 20, 2001 12:00 PM

Small batch and specialty chemical manufacturers are not likely targets for terrorist attacks, says William Stanley, regulatory manager at Deepwater Chemicals, a member of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA). Stanley made the statements recently before the Senate Superfund Toxics, Risk, and Waste Management Subcommittee.

The manufacturers 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. Regular inventory of materials and products are conducted, as well as routine security assessments and communication with emergency responders and local government officials.

In its written testimony, SOCMA indicated that advocates are 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 website at http://www.socma.com and are the cornerstone of a series of five free workshops to be offered around the country over the next three months.