Two members of the National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD), Matthew Fridley, Senior Director of Security and Safety for Brenntag North America, and Richard Erstad, Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Hawkins, Inc., provided comments to the U.S. House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection in support of a clean, long-term reauthorization of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program. 

Following Fridley and Erstad’s participation in the subcommittee’s roundtable, NACD President and CEO Eric R. Byer released the following statement:

“As one of the most successful chemical security programs in existence, the CFATS program serves a critical role to our industry by protecting our nation’s high-risk chemical facilities from acts of terror and providing the industry with the stability needed to make important investments. This important program, however, is set to expire on July 27, 2023, without Congressional action. We applaud the dedicated work of Mr. Fridley and Mr. Erstad as they continue to demonstrate how this program allows the industry to partner with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to manage these ever-evolving risks while upholding the highest security standards. NACD will continue to closely work with Members of Congress to secure a clean, long-term reauthorization to continue to protect against potential threats to these critical facilities.”

Congress has reauthorized the CFATS program four times – each time on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis. This vital program was last reauthorized by Congress in 2020 with unanimous support in both chambers of Congress. Unlike many programs that can be reauthorized retroactively, the CFATS program will cease to exist if it is not reauthorized before it expires, leaving our nation without this important safeguard against potential acts of terrorism.