Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced a comprehensive legislative package that would help to prevent debilitating terrorist attacks at America’s chemical, drinking water, and wastewater facilities. This legislation requires plants to assess their vulnerability, develop plans to address those vulnerabilities, and requires the highest-risk facilities to convert their facilities to safer processes that don’t have the risk of a catastrophic chemical release.
The Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a disaster unfolding before our eyes. Eleven lives were lost in the initial explosion, and that incalculable loss is compounded daily as oil continues to flow.