transport of dangerous goods and risk management - Kirilo Savić

TRANSPORT OF DANGEROUS GOODS AND RISK MANAGEMENT 246(Energy Information Administration, 2001). In 1998, the ELN bombed the OCENSA pipeline, spilling over 30,000barrels of oil and triggering a blaze which killed more than 70 people and injured at least 100 others when the firespread through nearby villages (World Press, 2004).Following the launch of the Gulf War Coalition air campaign in January 1991, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein orderedthe detonation of an estimated 1250 oil wells. Nearly 600 oil wells were engulfed in flames, spewing out thickbillows of smoke that "turned midday into midnight in Kuwait" (Popkin, 1991:23). Famous attack on the petroleumsupply chain was the bombing of the French tanker Limburg in October 2002 off the coast of Yemen (BBC News,2002).POSSIBLE MITIGATION AND PREVENTION STRATEGIESThe most reliable way for a nation to protect itself against the disruption caused by environmental terrorism is todiversify resource use wherever possible. Multiple sources of food, water, and energy mean each individual sourceis less attractive as a target. In addition, federal, state, and local governments can protect environmental resources insitu through more intensive and focused monitoring efforts, in conjunction with increased environmental datagathering, a sort of “early-warning” system to identify future environmental risks. Among the best defenses againstterrorist threats are public confidence in management systems and security experts.Perhaps the most fundamental action that can be taken to protect water systems is to limit or deny physical access tovulnerable points. One of activities is to increased number of coast guard patrols in the area of water intakes alongwith increased the number of daily water samples.According to the Center for Defense Information, the recommendations for reducing the physical risk toinfrastructure are:1. facilities (treatment plants, reservoirs, dams, storage facilities, pumping plants, intake facilities and controlsystems) should be identified and inventoried;2. physical access to those most critical to operations, or most vulnerable to attack, should be controlled;3. access to water distribution maps and facility plans should be controlled when there is a clear security risk;4. surveillance cameras, motion detectors, and lighting should be installed in appropriate places;5. to prevent hacking, supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA) for monitoring andcontrolling water should not be connected to the Internet; and6. on-site water treatment chemicals should be kept in secure facilities and they should be inventoried on aregular basis (Center for Defense Information, 2002)."Early warning" monitoring systems can help to identify contamination events early enough to permit an effectiveresponse. An EWS must be reliable: it should minimize the potential for significant numbers of both false negatives(missing a true event) and false positives (reporting a false event). It must be easy to install and operate, providecontinuous monitoring and result in rapid notification of an event. Continuous monitoring reduces the likelihoodthat contamination events will be missed. The development of standard monitoring systems would reduce cost,permit sharing among users and facilitate repair and replacement (Foran & Brosnan, 2000). New and developingtechnologies are being developed and among these technologies are DNA microchip arrays (Betts, 1999a),immunologic techniques (Betts, 1999b), microrobots (Hewish, 1998). Most of these technologies are not yetcommercially available, nor have they been tested in large drinking water systems.A key component to the success of any response will be the advance preparation of a process or plan that providesguidelines for all appropriate stakeholders, including users, emergency responders and law enforcement agencies,local media and community leaders. The prevention of environmental terrorism will require a new vigilance: a newunderstanding of both the nature of the threat, and formulation of appropriate and effective responses (Chaletcki,2001:16).