Thread: ABC: Homeland Sec worried about terrorists and fuel tanks

I-Team Report: Under Fire
By Chuck Goudie

July 25, 2007 - Federal Homeland Security officials are worried terrorists have been eyeing tanks of fuel -- like those that exploded Wednesday in Dallas -- to use as possible weapons. They are working on a crackdown.

Terrorists have already struck using backyard-size propane tanks as bombs, this month at an airport in Scotland and in car bombs ready to blow on the streets of London. At the time of the overseas attack, American officials were already tuning up a plan to regulate propane sales in this country for the first time.

The power of propane has been most often seen and felt during accidental explosions, as we saw during this fire at a gas storage facility in Aurora in 1997 or the 2002 propane tank explosion on Chicago's Jeweler's Row.

"I thought an airplane hit one of the buildings. We ran to the door and there was smoke and we ran to the back door there was smoke," said a witness to the Jeweler's Row blast.

When it is no accident, the deliberate detonation of propane can be frightening and deadly. A terrorist attack a few weeks ago involved two men crashing a sport utility vehicle into the main terminal of Scotland's Glasgow International Airport. The SUV was packed with small propane gas canisters that turned the car into a fiery bomb.

The attack was connected to two other car bombs left in London, just days earlier, that failed to detonate. Last spring, before the Glasgow attack, the US Department of Homeland Security announced proposed new safety and security regulations for the industry. It asked businesses to voluntarily answer a list of questions called "top screen" so a national inventory of the chemical could be compiled then gave a deadline for the new regulations.

"It's very important to us to, one, have the universal picture of what is out there. our federal government has not done this before. two, in a post-9/11 world, it's very important for us to understand the consequences of the types of chemicals and the quantity of chemicals that might be out there if, god-forbid, they were to be used in some sort of attack," said Russ Knocke, Department of Homeland Security.

In Washington, regulations about to be mandated by Homeland Security officials will affect propane suppliers. Since DHS announced that new rules were coming, industry members sent the department more than 4,000 letters and emails complaining about the financial impact of the propane proposal small and midsized business owners.

"This is a pretty groundbreaking effort that has been done in partnership with the owners and operators of these various industries," Knocke said. "I will tell you that we're going to move forward with chemical security regulations. There should be no uncertainty about that. This is an area of our society that has known vulnerabilities and we're going to shut them down."

"We actually favor some degree of regulation by the department. we simply don't want to see the department wasting precious resources spending it's time on small customer facilities when really the larger storage facilities is where they should spend their time and attention. butt to 8:00 no agency of the federal government has all of the resources that it needs to achieve its mission. every agency has to set priorities and that's exactly what we're urging dhs to do. simply focus on the areas of highest risk," said Richard Roldan.

While industry leaders and the government collaborate on the new regulations, to be announced in the coming weeks, DHS told the ABC7 I-Team the major propane users will have to file risk assessments and security plans.

As the chemical industry has done for years, propane producers and industrial users will also have to file worst case scenario reports describing the area and number of people who would be killed or injured in a major accident or attack.

"We have to be careful to not burn down the village in order to safe it. if we implement excessive security requirements, in many respects we'll be doing damage to the very industry we're trying to protect," said Knocke.

In Illinois, the state fire protection code requires a permit to install commercial propane tanks but there are no restrictions on how much propane can be purchased or any registration required. These small tanks of propane for home heaters and grills are completely unregulated and federal anti-terrorism officials told the I-Team they'll stay that way. The feds plan to leave that part of national security up to you...

"If you see something, say something," Knocke said.

The past four years, Illinois State Police and the FBI have been keeping track of propane tank thefts in the Chicago area. News accounts cite 55 tanks have vanished from businesses in Evanston, Oak Lawn and Burbank.

In the most troubling case, eight tanks of propane disappeared from a convenience store that employed Nabil al-Marabh, an illegal immigrant who was arrested by the FBI nine days after 9/11. Al-Marabh was on the terrorist watch list, eventually deported to Syria, but the propane was never found.

The I-Team requested all stolen propane data from federal and state authorities, but they declined.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sectio ... 9&ft=print

Homeland Security on the ball as usual!!! Like propane tanks and canisters being used as bomb wasn't thought of! Glad this department was created!!!

so when terrorists start attacking us here on our soil again is anyone's head going to roll??

The President, the Senate and Cogress. Govenors and Mayors. Those people are responsible for our security also. Letting anyone into our states should be held accountable. We have been hit before, we know we are under threat and lettuce head has a gut feeling we are going down.


My question is would any fuel trucks be coming out of Mexico? That is our biggest threat. Our borders are open.