National Tank Truck Carriers recently joined 13 peer associations to pen a letter to Senate and House leaders calling on them to prioritize reauthorization of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program.
Managed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), CFATS was a regulatory initiative aimed at enhancing security measures at high-risk chemical facilities to prevent terrorist attacks, NTTC explained in a news release. Facilities covered by CFATS were required to assess their security risks, develop and implement security plans, and undergo regular inspections to ensure compliance with the program’s standards. CFATS focused on securing facilities that store, handle, or process certain quantities of chemicals of interest that could be exploited by terrorists to cause harm.
The CFATS program was not renewed by Congress, and it officially lapsed in July 2023.
According to the letter, “The lapse of the CFATS program means DHS is not able to review security plans from companies and cannot conduct on-site visits to test a facility’s resilience to terrorist threats.” Reauthorization from the House of Representatives passed by a vote of 409 to 1 in July of 2023, but no action was taken in the Senate at that time.