[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 4, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H927]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      PREVENTING FUTURE DISASTERS

  (Mr. BARROW asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. BARROW. Madam Speaker, this weekend marks the first anniversary 
of the combustible dust explosion at the Imperial Sugar Refinery in 
Savannah, Georgia.
  What we learned in my community since this disaster hit is that the 
experts have known about this problem for decades. The private sector 
has developed standards that effectively deal with this problem, but 
the public sector hasn't responded. The trouble is not enough people 
know about the problem, much less the solutions, and those who do know 
about the solutions aren't required to adopt them.
  The only standards that are mandatory really are not designed with 
this problem in the first place, and so they aren't working. The result 
is we have good standards that are not mandatory and inadequate 
standards that are mandatory. It ought to be the other way around.
  Today I am reintroducing legislation we passed in the last Congress, 
legislation that will take such upside-down policy and flip it right 
side up.
  On the anniversary of this latest disaster, our thoughts and prayers 
go out to the folks who are still suffering from their losses and 
injuries. But our work to fix what is broken with our regulatory system 
should continue until we have done everything that we reasonably can to 
prevent any such disasters from ever happening again.

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