Paul Krugman burns hot today on the failings of the US government to secure the homeland. Many major American toxic and nuclear facilities, including some in Cascadia, are sitting ducks for sabotage.
We’ll add substantially to this story Thursday, when we release the Cascadia Scorecard 2005.
Krugman writes:
Consider, for example, the case of chemical plants.
Just days after 9/11, many analysts identified sites that store toxic chemicals as a major terror risk, and called for new safety rules. But as The New York Times reported last fall, "after the oil and chemical industries met with Karl Rove … the White House quietly blocked those efforts."
Nearly three and a half years after 9/11, those chemical plants are still unprotected.
Other major risks identified within days of the attack included the possibility of terrorist attacks on major ports or nuclear plants. But in the months after 9/11, the administration flatly refused to allocate the sums that members of the House and Senate from both parties thought necessary to secure these sites.
