On September 29, 2004 a group of representatives from the NY Chemical Alliance met with the Director of the NYS Office of Homeland Security (OHS), James McMahon, and his staff to discuss the chemical security section (Part C) of the anti-terrorism law (Chapter 1 of 2004) which was signed into law on August 4, 2004. Director McMahon started the meeting by outlining the department’s thoughts on how they would proceed in managing this issue and stressed his intention to work with industry on these issues and not duplicate work that has already been done. The first step OHS will take will be to hire a program manager who will be responsible for the chemical industry, followed by the hiring of a consultant who has experience with the chemical industry and security issues. Finally, a survey of the industry will then be taken to help focus the agency’s efforts on facility security. The director asked for industry input on all three of these tasks. After outlining his vision for the department, Director McMahon listened to the industry’s concerns, including the confidentiality of information and the listing of chemicals and the potential impact on smaller chemical companies. He assured the industry representatives that information would be protected and that OHS will do everything possible to take into account the needs of smaller facilities in the state as they develop this program.
The meeting was productive and started an important dialog between the chemical industry and OHS. The Chemical Alliance will continue to work with OHS throughout this process and keep members involved and informed as things progress. Watch this page for updates as the important discussions about this issue continue.
