http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060610/BUSINESS/606100370/10 03/OPINION A disaster waiting to happen?
Attack on N.J. plant could loose deadly chlorine Posted by the Asbury Park Press <http://www.app.com/> on 06/10/06 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS KEARNY - Time and again, the Kuehne Co. chemical plant is held up by environmentalists, politicians and others as a scary, dangerous place where a terrorist attack could loose a chlorine cloud capable of killing 12 million people. "That's not going to happen," said Donald F. Nicolai, the company's president. "I think we're extremely safe." Not everyone is so sure. The company can have up to 2 million pounds of chlorine on site at any given time - about 10 rail tanker cars' worth. "No one can know whether a determined terrorist will decide to fly a plane in there from above," said Rick Engler, executive director of the New Jersey Work Environment Council, the latest of several groups to anoint Kuehne as the state's most dangerous chemical facility. Kuehne has spent $15 million upgrading security since 1999, a process that began two years before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Tucked in along the Hackensack River in the shadow of the Pulaski Skyway, the plant makes bleach for water treatment plants and swimming pool supply companies. It is consistently listed at or near the top of the most dangerous potential terrorist targets, based on data the government collects about what is done and stored there. The company's own data show that a release of chlorine from Kuehne could seriously injure or kill as many as 12 million people within a 14-mile radius in northern New Jersey, Manhattan, Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York. But that's a worst-case scenario that is unlikely to occur, Nicolai said. The model assumes that winds would disperse the material outward in a circular pattern to all directions. Chlorine gas tends to hover close to the ground when released, not spread high and far, he said. More importantly, he said, the company has bolstered its security measures, and adjusted its manufacturing processes to guard against a terrorist strike. "They are making a lot of progress, but it's not enough, not because of a lack of trying," said Richard Canas, New Jersey's homeland security director. "It's mainly because they are physically at the wrong place at the wrong time. They're just in a very bad location to protect." Moving the plant is not an option, Nicolai said. "There has to be someone doing what we're doing in this area," he said. "It's critically important. We are the supplier to most of the water treatment facilities in New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and points in between. Without our product, you can't drink the water; you can't use your bathroom." So the focus becomes making the plant, which has been in Kearny since 1980, as secure as possible. New steel-reinforced fencing has been installed along the perimeter, supplemented by concrete barriers and double gates. Cameras, both visible and hidden, ring the plant and its approaches. Video feeds from the cameras are monitored not only by company security, but by Kearny police, state police and federal homeland security officials in Washington. Razor-wire fence prevents intruders trying to enter from the Hackensack River, and marine patrols cruise back and forth along Kuehne's coastline. Three huge tanker barges, which only occasionally leave the plant to deliver bleach to customers including Boston's Deer Island treatment plant, also serve as sturdy barriers. Kuehne tests its own security measures by sending "red teams" of employees to secretly try to circumvent security as many as six times a year. Tactics included having workers sneak in behind vehicles that are cleared to enter the plant. None succeeded in breaching security, Nicolai said. In extreme situations, the plant has plans to deploy SWAT teams around entrances. The plant's main vulnerability is bringing chlorine on site in rail tanker cars, Nicolai said. One potential solution the company is considering involves building a facility on its grounds that would produce its own chlorine and inject it directly into the processing areas, eliminating the need to bring the chemical in on rail cars. But that plant would cost $50 million - an entire year of revenue for the privately owned company. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> You can search right from your browser? It's easy and it's free. See how. http://us.click.yahoo.com/_7bhrC/NGxNAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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