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- ALLIANCE TO END CHILDHOOD LEAD POISONING
- AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF LAW LIBRARIES
- AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS
- ARIZONA TOXICS INFORMATION
- ASSOCIATION OF RESEARCH LIBRARIANS
- CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY
- CHILDREN'S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
- CLEAN WATER ACTION
- COALITION FOR HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS
- N.C. CONSERVATION COUNCIL
- COOK INLET KEEPER
- DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE
- ECOLOGY CENTER
- ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION
- ELECTRONIC PRIVACY CENTER
- ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE
- FREEDOM OF INFORMATION CENTER
- FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
- GLOBAL INTERNET POLICY INITIATIVE
- GREENPEACE
- HAMPSHIRE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
- MULTIPLE CHEMICAL SENSITIVITIES: HEALTH & ENVIRONMENT
- NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST
- NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL
- NCOSH
- NEW JERSEY WORK ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL
- OMB WATCH
- PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
- PRIVACY INTERNATIONAL
- PROJECT ON GOVERNMENTAL OVERSIGHT
- SALEM AUDOBON SOCIETY
- SIERRA CLUB
- SILICON VALLEY TOXICS COALITION
- US PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP
- UMass LOWELL: DEPT. OF WORK ENVIRONMENT
November 26, 2001
Dear Senator:
Senators Bennett and Kyl have introduced S. 1456, the "Critical Infrastructure Information Act," requiring the federal government to keep confidential any information that is "voluntarily" turned over by industry regarding "critical infrastructure." The legislation may be offered as an amendment to the bi-partisan bioterrorism bill introduced by Senators Kennedy and Frist or to any other piece of legislation that moves through the Congress in the final days of the session. The undersigned organizations urge senators to oppose this amendment.
The intent of the Bennett/Kyl language is to encourage the sharing of information that would strengthen national security against terrorist attacks on and through computer systems. In practice, however, the legislation could have the following devastating effects on the regulatory process and federal law enforcement:
- Bar the federal government from disclosing information regarding spills, fires, explosions and other accidents without obtaining written consent from the company that had the accident.
- Give the manufacturing sector unprecedented immunity from the civil consequences of violating the nation's environmental, tax, fair trade, civil rights, labor, consumer protection, and health and safety laws.
- Sweep aside record-keeping and disclosure requirements under federal laws other than the Securities Exchange Act.
The legislation applies "notwithstanding any other provision of law," thereby repealing all other provisions that require the government to disclose � to the courts and the public � information about a company's compliance record. In effect, the legislation invites companies to engage in a "race to voluntarily disclose," so that information cannot be made publicly available with out their permission and volunteers are given immunity for auditing themselves and turning information about their violations over to the government.
Because the legislation does not prohibit disclosures by companies themselves, or their employees and competitors, it does not fulfill its stated purpose of protecting critical infrastructure information from being turned over to the terrorists. Apparently, some of the information it covers is not really sensitive data that could lead to harm to critical national infrastructures, but is, instead, information that companies would rather keep behind closed doors.
The Bennett/Kyl bill (S. 1456) was referred to the Governmental Affairs Committee, but no hearings have been held on this specific bill. The Senate should not pass provisions with such profound unintended consequences without considering their implications very carefully.
Thank you. For further information, please call Rena Steinzor at the Natural Resources Defense Council at 202-289-2364.
Sincerely,
Gary Bass | | Rena Steinzor |
Executive Director | | Academic Fellow and Attorney |
OMB Watch | | Natural Resources Defense Council |
| | |
David L. Sobel | | Jim Dempsey |
General Counsel | | Deputy Director |
Electronic Privacy Information Center | | Center for Democracy and Technology |
| | |
John Chelen | | Bill Snape |
Hampshire Research Institute | | Vice President of Law and Litigation |
| | Defenders of Wildlife |
Ed Hopkins | | |
Director, Environmental Quality Program | | Tracey Eastthorpe, MPH |
Sierra Club | | Director, Environmental Health Project |
| | Ecology Center |
Alyce Gowdy Wright | | |
NCOSH | | Danielle Brian |
| | Executive Director |
John Runkle | | Project on Governmental Oversight |
General Counsel | | |
Conservation Council of North Carolina | | Laura Punnett, Sc.D |
| | Department of Work Environment |
Lee Tien | | University of Massachusetts Lowell |
Electronic Frontier Foundation | | |
| | Andy Igrejas |
Michael Gregory | | Director |
Arizona Toxics Information | | Children's Environmental Health Campaign |
| | National Environmental Trust |
Don Ryan | | |
Executive Director | | Lucy Daglish |
Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning | | Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press |
| | |
Tony Tweedale | | Lynn Thorp |
MT Coalition for Health, Environment & | | National Campaigns Coordinator |
Economic Rights | | Clean Water Action |
| | |
Jeremiah Baumann | | David Banisar |
US Public Interest Research Group | | Deputy Director |
| | Privacy International |
Rick Engler | | |
Director | | Jim Conley |
New Jersey Work Environmental Council | | President |
| | Salem Audobon Society |
Charles N. Davis | | |
Executive Director | | Rick Hind |
Kathleen Edwards | | Legislative Director, Toxics Campaign |
Manager | | Greenpeace |
Freedom of Information Center | | |
| | Elizabeth Thompson |
Ted Smith | | Legislative Director |
Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition | | Environmental Defense |
| | |
Kevin M. Goldberg | | Lynn Lawson |
American Society of Newspaper Editors | | MCS: Health and Environment |
| | |
Bob Shavelson | | Prudence S. Adler, |
Cook Inlet Keeper | | Associate Executive Director |
| | Association of Research Librarians |
Susan West Marmagas | | |
Director, Environment and Health Programs | | Mary Alice Baish |
Physicians for Social Responsibility | | American Association of Law Libraries |
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