Barrow urges Senate to pass anti-dust bill

May 13, 2008 (Savannah Morning News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- -- Flanked by local officials, U.S. Rep. John Barrow on Monday called on the Senate to enact his proposal to control combustible dust. Aimed at preventing deadly fires such as the one that killed 13 people at the Imperial Sugar Co. in Port Wentworth, the bill passed May 1 in the House.

But the Senate seems to be in no hurry to act on the bill, and the White House says President Bush likely will veto it if it reaches his desk. "The ball is in the Senate's court," Barrow said, standing near a Port Wentworth fire truck. "I'm calling on Georgia's U.S. senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, to take the matter up and get the legislation passed over there."

Barrow, a Savannah Democrat, and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., introduced the measure after the Feb. 7 explosion and fire at the sugar refinery.

It would force the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to toughen rules on industrial dusts that can build up and blow up. Investigators say dust was a key factor in the Port Wentworth explosion and fires.

Citing other deadly explosions, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board urged OSHA to take similar action in 2006. Instead of changing its rules, OSHA decided to enforce existing ones more strictly. Accusing OSHA of "foot dragging" on worker safety, Barrow said it should "get off the can and get on the stick."

OSHA officials say they're acting to control dust but add that further measures should await the conclusion of two ongoing investigations. At least until then, they insist, there's no assurance that more rules will mean safer plants.

Some senators, including Chambliss, are noncommittal on the bill and want to see the results of the investigations. The results are irrelevant to whether new dust rules are needed, Barrow said.

"You may never find... the last link in the chain of events that caused this explosion," he said. "But we know the primary thing... is to change our practices so that these concentrations (of dust) don't build up." Barrow rejected OSHA's claims that the measure is a "one-size-fits-all" approach. He said the bill was amended to give OSHA "more leeway" concerning new rules.

Isakson, he said, is a key factor in whether the bill moves. The senator is the top Republican on the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, which is due to hold a hearing on the bill. He has said there will be some action on the bill before the end of the year but has predicted it will be changed.

Barrow wouldn't take the White House's veto threat at face value. "It's one thing to say you're going to veto it, and it's another thing to do it," he said.

In any case, he said, the administration that succeeds Bush's next year is likely to view the issue "in a different light." Port Wentworth Mayor Glenn "Pig" Jones and Fire Chief Greg Long also called for Senate passage of the bill.

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