While much of what the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) deals with are natural disasters, a new bill – the Technological Hazards Preparedness and Training Act (S.4166) – advanced through the Senate last week seeks to expand its ability to address technological hazards as well.
Technological hazards can include radiological, chemical, and similar emergent threats. Such threats are handled by the FEMA Technological Hazards Division (THD), but that division’s scope is limited. The new bill would expand that capability to support all communities with technological hazards and require FEMA to identify communities in all 50 states with the highest risk and vulnerability to those hazards.
“Since its inception in 1979, FEMA has been tasked to provide preparedness and training for the communities surrounding nuclear power plants using fees paid by the utilities,” U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), who introduced the bill alongside U.S. Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-AZ), said. “However, there are still hundreds of other communities that contain different radiological or chemical hazards but have had no access to this specialized FEMA support. I applaud the Senate for passing our bipartisan legislation to provide the authority and funding to ensure the most vulnerable communities in Ohio and across the country have access to the preparedness and training necessary to keep our families safe.”
In addition to identifying these concerns, FEMA would also have to guarantee that state governments are aware of their existence and that they have access to technical assistance and training to deal with them.