WHAT:
The Subcommittee on Environment, chaired by Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), held a hearing today to review the progress of the Chemical Facilities Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program, including program implementation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as well as action items and overall achievement of benchmark objectives identified in the past by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
WHY:
“In my opinion, CFATS has had four uninterrupted years to course correct and these are threshold questions that must be addressed in evaluating whether CFATS is a worthwhile investment for the United States taxpayers," said #SubEnvironment Chairman Shimkus. “I am interested in knowing what steps DHS has taken to improve its risk assessment methodology and what that has meant for facility tiering, what DHS has done to become more effective and efficient carrying out the CFATS program, and, finally, what steps has DHS taken to improve CFATS program transparency and communication with regulated facilities."
WHO:
* Dave Wulf, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Infrastructure Protection, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Opening Statement )
* Yvette Arellano, Policy Research and Grassroots Advocate, Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (Opening Statement )
* Doug Brown, President and COO, Brown Chemical Company (Opening Statement )
* James Conrad, Principal, Conrad Law and Policy Counsel, on behalf of Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (Opening Statement )
* Chris P. Currie, Director, Emergency Management; National Preparedness; and Critical Infrastructure Protection, Homeland Security and Justice Team, U.S. Government Accountability Office (Opening Statement )
* Steve Roberts, Principal, Chemical Security Group, LLC (Opening Statement )
* Mike Wilson, National Director, Occupational and Environmental Health, BlueGreen Alliance (Opening Statement )
KEY MOMENTS:
“I think we have demonstrated over the course of the last four years that we take very seriously our stakeholders comments and that we seek to involve them in the program. This whole effort is a shared commitment - it wouldn’t work without the buy-in of our stakeholders. We’ve put into place tens of thousands of security measures at facilities across the country, so they know in many ways bests ways in which we can improve the program. That’s why we have involved them in the development of the new risk-tiering methodology, that’s why we’ve involved them in the development of the new suite of online tools, and their input on those fronts has been invaluable." - Mr. Dave Wulf
“CFATS is important to me and to my district. … As the current authorization for CFATS is set to expire in January of next year we must carefully consider how the program is measured and what improvements should be made or could be made in the reauthorizing legislation." - Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX)
RESOURCES:
The Majority Memorandum, witness testimony, and an archived webcast are available online HERE.
