USA - Threat
An Iraq threat comes home
The use of chlorine truck bombs in Iraq could presage a new terror threat here. Congress should mandate a switch to safer chemicals.
How many times has President Bush or a surrogate offered up this trite and illogical rationale for staying in Iraq: "If we don't fight them there, we'll have to fight them here"? Never mind that one does nothing to preclude the other, as the subway bombings in Britain proved.The real problem is that by fighting terrorists there, we may make them more effective at fighting us here.
A new tactic used by terrorists in Iraq involves exploding chlorine truck bombs. At least five such attacks have killed dozens and injured more.
Now the Department of Homeland Security is warning chemical plants and bomb squads here to be on alert after several thefts and attempted thefts of 150-pound chlorine tanks from California water treatment plants.
Similar tanks, standard around the world, were used in the truck bombs detonated in Iraq.
"This is now being used against us as a tactic in another part of the world," Robert Stephan, head of Homeland Security's infrastructure protection unit, told USA Today. "We've got to be prepared for it."
The best preparation is one long resisted by the chemical industry: find safer substitutes for deadly chemicals.Such substitutes -- for chlorine as well as other highly toxic chemicals such as hydrogen fluoride, anhydrous ammonia and sulfur dioxide gas -- are available.Switching may involve substantial costs.Not switching may cost a substantial number of lives.According to the Center for American Progress, 25 million Americans either live near water treatment plants that use chlorine or along rail routes that chlorine tankers travel along.
A mere five years after 9/11, Congress passed a law authorizing Homeland Security to regulate chemical plant safety. But the law and subsequent regulations fail to require or even encourage a switch to safer chemicals where feasible and affordable.
Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff believes his department should stay out of such decisions. "We want to set down standards and requirements, but we do not want to necessarily prescribe the exact way in which a plant is going to meet those standards," he said.Oddly enough, that's the exact view of the American Chemistry Council.Americans deserve better than a Department of Homeland Security seemingly run more for the profit and convenience of the chemical industry than the safety of citizens.Congress should mandate a more sensible ordering of priorities.
The use of chlorine truck bombs in Iraq could presage a new terror threat here. Congress should mandate a switch to safer chemicals.
How many times has President Bush or a surrogate offered up this trite and illogical rationale for staying in Iraq: "If we don't fight them there, we'll have to fight them here"? Never mind that one does nothing to preclude the other, as the subway bombings in Britain proved.The real problem is that by fighting terrorists there, we may make them more effective at fighting us here.
A new tactic used by terrorists in Iraq involves exploding chlorine truck bombs. At least five such attacks have killed dozens and injured more.
Now the Department of Homeland Security is warning chemical plants and bomb squads here to be on alert after several thefts and attempted thefts of 150-pound chlorine tanks from California water treatment plants.
Similar tanks, standard around the world, were used in the truck bombs detonated in Iraq.
"This is now being used against us as a tactic in another part of the world," Robert Stephan, head of Homeland Security's infrastructure protection unit, told USA Today. "We've got to be prepared for it."
The best preparation is one long resisted by the chemical industry: find safer substitutes for deadly chemicals.Such substitutes -- for chlorine as well as other highly toxic chemicals such as hydrogen fluoride, anhydrous ammonia and sulfur dioxide gas -- are available.Switching may involve substantial costs.Not switching may cost a substantial number of lives.According to the Center for American Progress, 25 million Americans either live near water treatment plants that use chlorine or along rail routes that chlorine tankers travel along.
A mere five years after 9/11, Congress passed a law authorizing Homeland Security to regulate chemical plant safety. But the law and subsequent regulations fail to require or even encourage a switch to safer chemicals where feasible and affordable.
Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff believes his department should stay out of such decisions. "We want to set down standards and requirements, but we do not want to necessarily prescribe the exact way in which a plant is going to meet those standards," he said.Oddly enough, that's the exact view of the American Chemistry Council.Americans deserve better than a Department of Homeland Security seemingly run more for the profit and convenience of the chemical industry than the safety of citizens.Congress should mandate a more sensible ordering of priorities.
posted by Bill at
9:12 AM
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