Statement by The September 11th Advocates

Dear Members of Congress,
 
We know the price of incompetence and neglect when it comes to protecting American citizens from  terrorist attacks. Perhaps even more sadly, we are now learning the price of incompetence and neglect when  it comes to protecting Americans from natural disasters such as hurricane Katrina. Today, four years post-9/11, we, as five 9/11 widows who fought for the creation of the 9/11 Commission, are unable to assume that our leaders will be vigilant and responsible when it comes to doing everything and anything within their abilities to protect innocent American citizens from either man-made or natural disasters.
 
Notably, the 9/11 Commission's Final Report identified four major failures by the U.S. government in  preventing the September 11th attacks. The first of these was the “failure of imagination.”  And yet today, four years after September 11th, we find that our nation's leaders continue to suffer from this same absolute failure of imagination. Because, much like failing to imagine that airplanes could be used as missiles during the 9/11 attacks, we now find our government stating that they never imagined that levee walls in New Orleans could break. While our leaders suffer from a failure to plan for, protect  from, and mitigate damages from such unimaginable disasters, thousands, in fact millions, of innocent citizens are dying and/or being victimized.
 
We can no longer stand silent and merely hope for the best in our leaders. One area that demands immediate attention by our elected officials is chemical plant and chemical transport security.
 
Millions of Americans continue to be at risk from the use and transport of large quantities of ultra-toxic  industrial chemicals. According to EPA data, more than 100 chemical plants put more than 1 million innocent people at risk. In fact, the Homeland Security Council estimated that 17,500 people could be
killed by a terrorist attack on just one U.S. chlorine facility. 
 
Richard Falkenrath, former deputy homeland security advisor to the White House stated the following, "of all the various remaining civilian vulnerabilities in America today, one stands alone as uniquely deadly, pervasive, and susceptible to terrorist attack: toxic-inhalation-hazard industrial chemicals...the federal government has made no material reduction in the inherent vulnerability of hazardous chemical targets inside the United States.  Doing so should be the highest critical infrastructure protection priority for the Department of Homeland Security in the next two years."

Given the severity of risk, we can no longer rely on the good faith of chemical plant owners, nor can we assume that voluntary standards established by industry are a sufficient safeguard. The security of the American people requires that we establish enforceable standards for all chemical facilities--including railroads. Frighteningly, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory estimates that an attack on a 90-ton rail car could result in up to 100,000 casualties--with people dying at the alarming rate of 100 lives per second.
 
Legislation introduced by Senator Jon Corzine in 2001 would have required chemical facilities to submit security plans to federal officials, who would then approve the plans and monitor compliance. Earlier this year similar legislation was introduced by Representative Frank Pallone in the House (H.R. 2237). These proposals increase plant security, but they also require the use of cost-effective alternative technologies, including safer chemicals, that can eliminate some risks entirely. Using less toxic chemicals in lieu of more toxic chemicals is an important alternative that must be considered because even the best security at any given chemical plant can be breached by any fully committed actor- whether that be a suicidal terrorist or Mother Nature.
 
Similarly, to prevent chemical disasters on our nations railways, legislation was also introduced this year to re-route trains in sensitive areas, such as large population centers. Senator Joseph Biden's bill (S 1256) and Representative Edward Markey's bill (H.R. 1414) represent an important first step in eliminating what experts refer to as "pre-positioned" weapons of mass destruction in our communities.
 
In short, as Congress considers legislation again this year, we strongly urge you to only support legislation that truly protects workers and surrounding communities from attacks against inherently dangerous chemical facilities and railroads. The only sure way to achieve this is to re-route dangerous cargoes and phase-out inherently dangerous chemicals wherever possible.
 
There is no excuse for continued inaction. It would be irresponsible for the 109th Congress to fail again to address this serious threat to millions of Americans.
 
Sincerely,
 
The September 11th Advocates

Kristen Breitweiser
Patricia Casazza
Monica Gabrielle
Mindy Kleinberg
Lorie Van Auken