The U.S. Congress passed and sent to the president’ desk for signature H.R. 4007, the Protecting and Securing Chemical Facilities from Terrorist Attacks Act of 2014. This is an important accomplishment for the IWLA Chemical Council and members who provide warehousing services to the chemical industry. IWLA is a member of the industry coalition that worked on this legislation for many years.

The legislation reestablishes and extends for four years the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and implements a series of important changes to make the program more efficient and effective.

The bill establishes a voluntary new expedited approval procedure for site security plans for certain chemical facilities, improves aspects of information sharing with state and local officials, and enhances DHS’ ability to identify high-risk chemical facilities that otherwise go unmonitored.