Before going home for Memorial Day, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to begin reviewing chemical security regulations, one of the most important pieces of homeland security-related legislation passed since Sept. 11, 2001 -- legislation that affects a core industry in the Pittsburgh region.

That landmark law, which Congress passed in 2006, is set to expire later this year.

What made the passage of the law interesting was less that the law was passed, but that it was passed with broad bipartisan and industry support.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) and its member companies supported the legislation because it improved security across the country. Since 2001, Lanxess, along with other Pittsburgh-based chemical companies such as Bayer and Nova Chemicals, which make up the Chemical Association of Pittsburgh, have spent millions of dollars on upgrading security here in the tri-state area.

Nationally, ACC member companies have spent $6.5 billion since 2001 on improving security at our 2,000 facilities. More importantly, the 2006 law raised the bar for other companies, ranging from full-fledged chemical plants to small businesses that store chemicals onsite. We believe Congress should reauthorize the law, because protecting these chemical facilities is simply too important.

America's chemistry industry is the lifeblood of our economy -- directly touching 96 percent of all manufactured goods. Within the Pittsburgh region, which is home to nearly 6,000 jobs directly created by the chemical industry, the industry pays nearly $400 million in wages.

Therefore, securing and maintaining the economic viability of this critical part of our infrastructure is vital to U.S. prosperity, the region's economic health and our national security. We understand that people who live and work in Pittsburgh fully expect strong and decisive protective measures from the responsible operators who use or store hazardous chemicals.

In 2006, the industry worked with Congress to come up with a bipartisan solution to cover all chemical facilities. As a result, the Department of Homeland Security was authorized to regulate the industry by establishing a comprehensive chemical security program, the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards.

The goal is to ensure that thousands of facilities across the country are taking action to thwart terrorist attacks while lowering the attractiveness to terrorists of these sites. The rules require chemical facilities to address a wide range of threats, from preventing a bomb-laden car from reaching a target to preventing theft or diversion of materials from a site.

This past fall, the Department of Homeland Security developed guidance for these standards that specifies necessary levels of protection required for quickly upgrading security at the nation's high-risk sites. In addition, last month, the Department of Homeland Security released $1.4 million that local governments around the state can use to fund their own chemical security first responders programs.

This is a security program with teeth and bite for those who fail to take security seriously. Any facility that fails to act can, and should, be fined and/or shut down by Homeland Security. Due to the significant progress made toward securing the nation's high-risk chemical facilities, ACC fully supports making this stringent program permanent.

We hope that Congress, including local members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation, will once again recognize that the current rules are eminently sensible. The rules drive performance to meet high standards and allow facilities to tailor the right mix of security measures to meet both the regulations and local conditions to best protect their communities.

We're proud of our efforts both in the Pittsburgh area and around the country to enhance security at our facilities. We seek to continue building on those efforts that put the protection of our facilities, employees and communities at the forefront and look forward to working with Congress and the Obama administration to secure passage of workable, effective security legislation in 2009.