Security at many U.S. chemical facilities is currently regulated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS; Washington, D.C.; www.dhs.gov) under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standard (CFATS). This rule, however, is about to expire this month, October 2009. All expectations…
In June, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agancy (EPA; Washington, D.C.; www.epa.gov) announced the winners of the 2009 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. Winners of the Challenge, which promotes R&D of less hazardous alternatives to existing technologies that reduce or eliminate…
By definition, integrated safety instrumented systems (SIS) have the potential to reduce risks. But recent advancement is also enabling the use of more sophisticated instruments and tools that can benefit the process. For these reasons, integrated control and safety systems…
Failure to register under REACH closes EU markets for thousands of chemical substances manufactured or marketed in the European Union, whether on their own, in preparations (formulations) or released from articles (finished products). A key policy objective of registration under…
Substantial technological advances to meet the growing regulatory scrutiny of a wide variety of pollutants have taken place over the past 50 years. In the last few years, the increased complexity in regulations in developed countries has been even more…
The Department of Homeland Security established the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) to impose mandatory security regulations on high-risk chemical facilities. Interpreting and fulfilling the regulations present challenges to security directors, but finding the right guidance and working with a…
The anthropogenic global warming debate experienced a reawakening last month, following the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed finding that greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution that may endanger public health or welfare. In an effort to keep the debate from…
By continuously monitoring for abnormal situations, such as a fire, and combustible or toxic gas releases, fire and gas (F&G) detection and mitigation systems are the linchpins to maintaining overall safety and operation of industrial facilities. The premise of these…
Strategies for extracting more distillate from petroleum to meet the growing demand for diesel fuel constituted a major theme of the recent annual meeting of the National Petrochemical and Petroleum Refiners Association (NPRA, Washington D.C.; www.npra.gov) in San Antonio, Tex.…
Edison Electric Institute (EEI) member companies support action to lower the country’s carbon and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80% from current levels by 2050. And we want to do so in a way that softens electricity price increases…