President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials have proposed a rule that could give terrorists “one more weapon” for attacking the United States, according to House lawmakers, in order to avoid having to answer as many Freedom of Information Act requests.
The EPA has decided to publish portions of Risk Management Plans for chemical plants on the internet — a reversal of a policy implemented after the September 11 terrorist attacks. “With the growth of several internet-search engine-based mapping tools, the information you propose to publish can constitute a virtual terrorist roadmap into a chemical facility, triggering devastating consequences,” wrote House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Environment and the Economy Subcommittee chair John Shimkus, R-Ill., to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.
The rule would publicize “facility-by-facility lists of covered chemicals used, preventative measures in place, and the location in a plant where those chemicals are used,” the lawmakers observed.
Upton and Shimkus also ridiculed the EPA’s exlanation for the rule change. “EPA complains that dealing with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for this information is a burden,” they wrote. “We believe this burden on your staff pales in comparison to the security risks posed by unfettered global access to this information by anyone for any purpose.”
“Terrorists already have enough weapons,” Upton and Shimkus concluded, calling for Jackson to reverse the rule. “We need not turn this highly sensitive information into one more weapon in their arsenal.”
