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In an industrial outback in the shadow of the Pulaski Skyway, two police officers and a maze of concrete barriers
sealed off part of Hackensack Avenue. A block beyond the barricade, almost directly below the cars and trucks
whooshing across the skyway, stood the tall white storage tanks of the Kuehne Chemical Co.
Kuehne, a maker of hydrogen chloride and other toxic chemicals, has been identified as a potential target of a
terrorist strike.
But even as the state moves toward adopting more specific anti-terrorism measures to be implemented by
industry, there is a debate over just how closely security should be regulated at the state's 300 chemical plants,
with U.S. Sen. Jon S. Corzine proposing a federal law in the absence of state legislation.
The industry directly employs 95,000 people in the state, with annual sales of $26 billion, according to the
Chemistry Council of New Jersey. The industry's importance has been highlighted in bright orange this holiday
season, with the nation's heightened terrorism alert.
There is no New Jersey or federal law mandating anti-terrorism security measures at chemical plants. And
proponents of closer government scrutiny say the chemical industry has essentially been left to police itself, an
untenable situation considering the human consequences of a successful attack on a plant.
For example, a risk-management plan filed by Kuehne with the Environmental Protection Agency in 1999 included
this worst-case scenario:
"Fully loaded railroad tank car releases all its chlorine within 10 minutes. The resulting cloud of chlorine vapor
would be immediately dangerous to both life and health for a distance exceeding 14 miles. The total population
within this radius is approximately 12 million."
The chemical industry insists that it has been subject to emergency security reviews from state and federal
anti-terrorism officials, and that some plants have been mandated to take security measures, while others have
done so if for no other reason than economic self-interest.
"The state has the authority now to mandate extraordinary security measures at any site it wants," said Hal C.
Bozarth, executive director of the chemistry council. "And in some cases it already has."
For example, the industry is among 20 sectors of the economy represented on the state Infrastructure Advisory
Council, a subgroup of the state Domestic Security Preparedness Task Force, led by Attorney General Peter
Harvey. The task force includes the state Office of Counter-Terrorism, state police, and other agencies.
By Steve Strunsky
Associated Press - 1/1/2004