Inside EPA  [Printer-friendly version]
July 7, 2006

HOUSE CHEMICAL SECURITY BILL SETS NEW TEST FOR PREEMPTING STATES

By Anthony Lacey

Recently introduced House legislation setting new security rules for
chemical plants would create what some sources say is an unprecedented
new test for preempting states from setting standards more stringent
than federal law.

The bill, H.R. 5695, would give the Department of Homeland Security
authority to regulate chemical facilities by assessing and ranking
them based on risk and ensuring higher-risk facilities meet more
stringent security requirements.

The bill would preempt states from setting more stringent standards
than the federal plan if a state law, regulation or standard would
"frustrate the purposes" of the federal legislation, although the bill
is silent on a definition for what would qualify as frustrating the
federal plan.

The bill differs from a Senate chemical security bill that passed out
of the Senate homeland security panel last month and explicitly allows
states to set more stringent standards than the federal plan. Relevant
documents are available on InsideEPA.com.

But the preemption provision is drawing criticism from Democrats --
who say the language is vague and unduly bars states from acting -- as
well as industry groups, who are calling for a blanket preemption
provision.

The bill's sponsors, Reps. Dan Lundgren (R-CA) and Bennie Thompson (D-
MS), say the legislation creates a new test for preempting state
rules. Thompson told Inside EPA, "The art of legislation in this
instance is compromise" and the preemption provision in the House bill
represents a good balance between outright "blanket" preemption and no
restrictions on state standards.

Lungren added that the language in the bill represents a compromise
that is "not an absolute preemption" as the chemical industry wants,
but is also "not as strong as states rights" advocates would like.

The new test adds to continuing partisan tensions over efforts by GOP
lawmakers to preempt state rules. A report issued last month by Rep.
Henry Waxman (D-CA), ranking member on the House Government Reform
Committee, found that the House and Senate have voted 57 times and
enacted 27 laws that preempt state laws and regulations in the past
five years, in areas including regulation of air pollution, energy
facility siting and food safety rules.

The report found, for example, that federal environmental law has
traditionally set a "floor" of minimum standards that states can then
go beyond, but over the last five years, the floor has been turned
into a federal "ceiling" that bars states from adopting more stringent
requirements.

For example, the energy law of last year strips states of their
authority on siting liquefied natural gas terminals, and allows the
Department of Energy to authorize the siting of electric transmission
lines "over the objections of states and localities," according to the
report.

Similarly, food safety legislation passed earlier this year preempts
states from adopting food safety requirements more stringent than
federal standards. The bill would effectively bar California from
implementing its Proposition 65 food safety labeling requirements.

The report claims that the numerous examples of federal law preempting
states shows that Republicans in Congress and the President have
"repeatedly acted to usurp state authorities and impose policy
decision dictated in Washington upon the states."

In comments following introduction of the bill, Democrats say it is a
prescription for litigation because it does not define when a state
effort would "frustrate" federal rules. One Democratic source says the
language "is like nothing I've ever seen, and creates a lot of
opportunities" for lawsuits that states, industry or others may file
over what may qualify as frustrating the chemical security federal
plan. To frustrate something is a "vague" term, the source says.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) told Inside EPA June 29 that she would
like states to have authority to go beyond the federal requirements.
Jackson Lee said preemption was "the crux" of the Senate and House
chemical security bills and added that as long as states did not
impose a "double burden" by duplicating requirements in the federal
plan, she would like to allow states to set their own rules.

But in June 29 press releases, the National Petrochemical & Refiners
Association and the American Chemistry Council (ACC) both said
chemical security legislation should provide absolute federal
preemption of state and local chemical security laws and regulations.

Marty Durbin, ACC's managing director for federal affairs, said in a
June 29 statement that the industry's preference is for legislation to
emulate the "strong federal preemption language" that Congress
approved in the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act to avoid a
"patchwork of potentially conflicting" state laws. That law bars
states from setting more stringent standards unless they apply for and
receive a waiver from the federal law.

One environmentalist says the preemption debate will only intensify if
the House bill moves closer to markup, and says the frustration
provision in H.R. 5695 is "preemption in all but name" because it will
be up to states to prove they are not frustrating the act, even though
there is no definition of what constitutes frustration.

Even if lawmakers can reach a compromise on the preemption issue, the
House chemical security bill still faces a number of obstacles,
including the issue of whether to require facilities to use inherently
safer technologies (IST) to reduce risk and the fact the bill has been
referred to two committees.

The House Committee on Homeland Security's subcommittee on economic
security, infrastructure protection and cybersecurity held a June 29
hearing on the legislation, but the bill has also been referred to the
House Energy & Commerce Committee, which has not indicated when it may
take the bill up for a hearing or markup.

Jurisdictional squabbles have stalled the Senate chemical security
legislation, as Senate environment committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-
OK) has placed a hold on the bill over concerns it regulates drinking
and wastewater facilities. Inhofe is demanding that the bill be
referred to his committee, even though it passed out of a Senate
homeland security panel markup last month.

Lungren told Inside EPA it is unclear how the Energy & Commerce
Committee will react to the legislation, but said he recognizes that
the committee has "an interest" in the issue, and will wait to hear
reaction from lawmakers on the panel.

But Jackson Lee told Inside EPA that if the Energy & Commerce
Committee holds a hearing on the bill, it may be a chance for the
panel's members to raise issues such as environmental requirements
that could be folded into the legislation. Jackson Lee said she would
like lawmakers to consider, for example, any potential air quality
requirements facilities may have to meet under the federal plan.

But that idea is likely to receive a cool reception from Republicans,
with Lungren saying co-sponsors of H.R. 5695 are trying to keep it
clean of environmental language in order to keep it strictly a
chemical security bill. "Air quality questions are air quality
questions, they are not the last time I checked homeland security
questions," Lungren said.

Environmentalists are also urging lawmakers to explicitly require the
use of IST in security plans, but the House bill as written is silent
on the issue. Thompson said in his opening statement at the June 29
hearing that requiring the use of IST "where feasible would be more
effective." He added that he was "hopeful" that bill as written would
give chemical facilities an incentive to use IST, because if they make
their plants safer, they lower their risk level and would be subject
to less-stringent requirements.