Feeling safer yet?
Feb 16th, 2007 at 9:22 am by Dr. S
Philip Perry, son-in-law of Five-deferment Dick, doing his part to protect the Homeland. When New Jersey responded to federal inaction to protect the nation’s chemical plants by regulating the state’s plants itself, Perry sprung into action.
This was a problem: the only way to stop New Jersey was for the federal government to preempt state law. But the only way for that to happen was for the federal government to actually pass a law. Re-enter Philip Perry, who went looking for a solution:
He would find it in a DHS appropriations bill in the Senate, to which had been attached an obscure amendment giving the DHS short-term regulatory authority over chemical security. Perry reworked the language and helped to get it added to the spending bill in a conference committee. Under the new amendment, the DHS would have nominal authority to regulate the chemical industry but also have its hands tied where required. For example, the DHS would be barred from requiring any specific security measures, and citizens would be prohibited from suing to enforce the law.
Best of all for industry, while the bill didn’t mention giving the DHS preemption authority, it didn’t bar it, either, leaving a modicum of wiggle room on the subject. In other words, if Perry was sufficiently brazen, he could claim for the DHS the power to nullify the chemical regulations in New Jersey.
He was sufficiently brazen.
If there’s a cell in your body that remains even slightly unconvinced that this administration is thoroughly corrupt, click through the link and read Art Levine’s entire story.
Senate GOP blocks federal prosecutor bill…
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If there’s a cell in your body that remains
even slightly unconvinced that this administration
is thoroughly corrupt,…
I think that there’s a cell in a mole on my
right shoulder that’s not completely certain.