Obama Issues Orders to Prevent the Next West, Texas-style Explosion
On Thursday, President Obama issued an executive order on chemical facility safety, three and a half months after the deadly ammonium nitrate explosion in a West, Texas fertilizer plant. The order outlines a number of new initiatives intended to modernize oversight of plants and strengthen the coordination of the various agencies responsible for safety at these facilities.
There aren't new rules in this order. It's more a list of things that agencies should work on.
Here's how the White House fact sheet describes it:
◾improve operational coordination with state and local partners;
◾enhance Federal agency coordination and information sharing;
◾modernize policies, regulations, and standards; and
◾work with stakeholders to identify best practices.
To take up those mandates, the order establishes a new Chemical Facility Safety and Security Working Group, which will include the top officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Homeland Security. It also directs federal, state, local, and tribal groups to figure out how to work together better on this issue.
More at: http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/08/obama-chemical-plant-safety-order-west-texas-explosion