EQB Amends State Explosives Regulations

EQB Amends State Explosives Regulations to Address Homeland Security Issues

HARRISBURG (Jan. 19) -- The Environmental Quality Board voted Tuesday in favor of amending regulations governing the storage, handling and use of explosives at the approximately 1,300 explosives storage magazines licensed by DEP in Pennsylvania.

DEP, the Pennsylvania State Police and Office of Homeland Security developed the amendments to address inadequate security requirements. From March 2003 to December 2003, the last period for which data from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) is available, Pennsylvania led the nation with nine explosives thefts. In these nine thefts, 1,859 pounds of explosives and 375 detonators were stolen. About half of this material has not been recovered.

The regulations amend Chapter 211 of the Pennsylvania Code to establish effective security requirements for explosive magazines to prevent the unauthorized access to, and the theft of explosives. Specifically, the amendments:

· Establish performance standards to limit access to magazines by requiring the creation of an outer perimeter security area to deter unauthorized vehicles from entering the site. The regulation is not prescriptive but provides licensees the flexibility to design and implement a plan unique to each site.

· Establish performance standards to deter access by unauthorized persons to magazines containing high explosives and detonators by requiring the creation of an inner perimeter security. The regulation is not prescriptive but provides licensees the flexibility to design and implement a plan unique to each site.

· Require detonators to be stored in a different secure room from other indoor magazines to reduce the possibility that a thief can obtain all the materials needed to make a bomb.

· Require licensees to inspect magazines every 24 hours, and maintain a record of inspections and problems for at least three years. This requirement does not apply if the magazine is empty.

· Require appropriate signs be placed outside the magazine to alert first responders and the public to hazards on the site.

· Establish design standards for gates and fences should the licensee choose to use gates and fences.

· Require notification of state police and local law enforcement personnel of the establishment of an explosives magazine.

· Contain equivalency provisions to give every licensee the opportunity to use other methods that meet the performance standards to protect the public.

Upon publication of the final order, the department will initiate a series of information meetings to assist the regulated community in complying with the new security requirements. The new security requirements will be phased in to allow the industry to plan for and implement in a reasonable manner.