By Rebecca Henely
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced Sunday he would be introducing legislation requiring major utilities to conduct FBI background checks on employees who work in the areas most vulnerable to attacks or sabotage following a report that Al-Qaeda may be targeting the facilities.
The legislation comes on the heels of a July U.S. Department of Homeland Security report saying that insiders causing destruction at electric, gas and water utilities pose a “significant threat” to national security, Schumer’s office said. At this time, only employees at nuclear power plants are required to undergo the background checks.
“The DHS report is a wake-up call that we must ensure those with access to our most critical infrastructure — and our power supplies — are not compromised by extremist influences,” Schumer said in a statement.
Queens has multiple electric/gas power plants in Astoria at the Con Edison complex on 20th Avenue near Shore Boulevard as well as a power generator on 36th Avenue and Vernon Boulevard near Ravenswood known as “Big Allis.”
The borough also has multiple wastewater treatment plants, including the Tallman Island Water Pollution Control Plant in College Point, the Jamaica WPCP and the Rockaway WPCP and additional water utilities such as the Alley Creek Combined Sewer Overflow Facility in Bayside.
The FBI check would look at the employees’ entries in the criminal history record repository and the Interstate Identification Index system, which has fingerprint records from U.S. states and territories as well as federal and international criminal justice agencies, Schumer’s office said.
The report, titled “Insider Threat to Utilities” mentioned instances in which employees at utilities in other states attempted to sabotage or interfere with site operations, spotlighting an employee at a water treatment plant who tried to cause a buildup of methane gas and a fired employee who broke a valve at a natural gas plant, Schumer’s office said.
The report also said senior Al Qaeda officials and a fall 2010 Al Qaeda newsletter urged recruits to take jobs at sensitive locations to conduct terror attacks, according to Schumer’s office.
Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
