Chemical Plants Warned of Attempt to Get Security Data

Posted: Friday, 27 July 2007 3:19PM
Chemical Plants Warned of Attempt to Get Security Data
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Chemical plants are being warned not to divulge security and safety procedures to a caller who claimed to be making a survey for an industry trade group. The caller gave a false phone number and the group is not conducting a survey.
At least three such calls were made earlier this month to plants in the Midwest, but no information was divulged, according to the Center for Chemical Process Safety, an industry group based in New York that sent an alert.
The calls raised concern in New Jersey, which has many chemical plants, said Elvin Montero, a spokesman for the Chemistry Council of New Jersey.
"It's taken seriously. Companies know the procedures to take,'' Montero said Friday. "Companies do not discuss their process safety or security measures over the phone, especially to someone they don't know.''
Montero declined to speculate on why such calls were made, but said the FBI and the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness had been informed.
FBI spokesman Richard Kolko in Washington said the agency was aware of the report and is looking into it.
A message for the state Homeland Security office was not immediately returned.
A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Russ Knocke, said the matter had not yet been brought to his agency.
The bogus calls to chemical plants were reported in Friday's editions of The Record of Bergen County.
The caller claimed to be from the Center for Chemical Process Safety, and said it was conducting a survey. Scott Berger, director of the center, told the newspaper it is not conducting such a survey.
The chemical plants tried to track the calls, but were led to disconnected or nonexistent numbers, Berger said.
He declined to identify the companies that received the calls, the newspaper reported.
Berger was unavailable for comment Friday. A message left for an aide was not immediately returned.
In a related matter, the U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a measure by Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., designed to let states enforce chemical safety laws that are more stringent than federal laws.
"The Bush Administration should not stop states from protecting their residents from chemical attacks,'' Lautenberg said in a statement issued Friday. "My provision is essential to New Jersey because we have the strongest chemical security laws in the nation.''
The American Chemistry Council, which represents the largest producers of chemicals in the country, strongly opposed the Lautenberg language, which was included in the Homeland Security appropriations bill.1010 WINS Safety & Security
For more information:Center for Chemical Process Safety: http://www.aiche.org/CCPS/
N.J. Office of Homeland Security: http://www.state.nj.us/njhomelandsecurity/