Res. No. 1288
Resolution calling on the United States Senate to pass the Secure Handling of Ammonium Nitrate Act of 2007.
Council Members Vallone Jr., Gennaro, Gentile and Nelson
Whereas, The National Strategy for Homeland Security and the Homeland Security Act of 2002 assisted in establishing The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on March 1, 2003; and
Whereas, The goal of DHS is to prevent and deter terrorist attacks as well as protect against and respond to threats to the nation; and
Whereas, Terrorists have struck the United States (US) in the past by creating homemade devices with the intent to destroy US buildings and inflict mass casualties on innocent citizens; and
Whereas, Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh used over forty-eight hundred pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer as a primary bomb component to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people; and
Whereas, Arizona Senator Mark Pryor introduced The Secure Handling of the Ammonium Nitrate Act (S.1463) and Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson introduced the House of Representatives’ companion bill (H.R.1680); and
Whereas, Both bills seek to regulate the sale of ammonium nitrate to prevent and deter the acquisition of ammonium nitrate by terrorists; and
Whereas, The legislation creates a registration process for both ammonium nitrate facilities and ammonium nitrate purchasers that enables DHS to crosscheck prospective purchaser’s identifying information with its terrorist screening database; and
Whereas, The House of Representatives passed H.R.1680 on October 23, 2007 and delivered the bill to the US Senate on October 24, 2007; and
Whereas, S.1463 aims to monitor ammonium nitrate sales and protect the people of the United States of America; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on the United States Senate to pass the Secure Handling of Ammonium Nitrate Act of 2007.
WJH
LS# 1741
2/1/08