Over-reaching federal government.(Letter)(Letter to the editor)

It seems there will be no end to the intrusion of our federal government into affairs once thought successfully managed by the states and the free market, two principals this country was built on.

The latest attempted intrusion comes in the form of the Chemical Security Reauthorization Bill, which will soon be considered in Congress. If enacted, this bill would allow the Department of Homeland Security to arbitrarily impose costly measures that it deems to be Inherent Safer Technology.

It seems the Department of Homeland Security would like for us to believe a bureaucrat in Washington, D.C., understands the chemical processes better than the chemical engineers and other trained experts operating our plants on a daily basis.

Everyone wants their employees to go home safe every day. This bill goes well beyond using tried and true risk management procedures to determine appropriate security measures based on risk. The bill allows the Department of Homeland Security to require the "safest" technology, the "safest" products and the "safest" processes as determined by, guess who, the Department of Homeland Security.

Companies with products and processes to sell "which are unwanted and unneeded in the free-market economy" will line up to have their "safer" products and processes selected by the DHS and then forced onto companies already beleaguered by the sour economy.

Capital designated for new equipment and new jobs will be forced into unnecessary retrofits of soundly operating equipment. Companies with millions of dollars invested in equipment and training could be required to invest in Inherent Safer Technology equipment and processes.

In the long run, jobs, productivity and flexibility will be lost. More companies will move their operations to less governmentally regulated countries, creating wealth and new jobs in places other than Arkansas or the United States.

J. Michael Smith

Crossett

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