The facility uses bulk shipments of chlorine gas to produce liquid bleach and repackages it into smaller containers, according to the report. A potential alternative would be to produce bleach on site by using electrolysis on saltwater. This would take away the need to ship or store chlorine gas, according to the report.

"Site security cannot assure protection against a concerted attack, insider sabotage or catastrophic release. Replacing hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives removes the danger," said Paul Orum, a chemical safety consultant who was commissioned by the Center for American Progress to prepare the report.

Donald Nicolai, president of Kuenhe Chemical, did not return phone calls regarding whether or not the business would chip in funding to use a different process to make bleach or what safety measures the business has already enacted.

State Senator Paul Sarlo, who represents southern Bergen County, believes the federal government and Kuehne need to chip in first before state dollars come into play. "At this point in time, the state doesn’t have resources to make those payments," said Sarlo. "This is a facility that deserves the attention of the federal government and homeland security."

Congressman Steve Rothman, who represents south Bergen on the federal level and sits on the house appropriations committee that recommends federal spending, has fought to make sure homeland security money is given to states based on risk and not simply divided equally among states; a fight Sarlo supports. "We need to send money back to the states based upon their need, their location and their density," said Sarlo.

Rothman, with help from Senator Frank Lautenberg, has worked to change the way the federal government divvies up homeland security funds.

"The Democrat majority was finally able to have the Department of Homeland Security focus more on risks, so this year that work is bringing fruit. For example, this year New Jersey will be receiving $3.6 million from Homeland Security in the buffer zone protection program. Last year, we got only $995,000. So that’s money that will go to protect sites like the Kuehne Chemical Plant right here in Kearny, New Jersey. More than three times the amount of money. That’s pretty extraordinary," said Rothman. "My office has communicated with the Kuehne Chemical Company for some time now, offering them any and all assistance to help them."

In addition to calling for federal dollars, Sarlo has introduced legislation to protect the site from terrorist attacks by requiring identification cards and fingerprints at potentially dangerous sites.

Site security does not completely fix the problem, according to experts from the Center for American Progress, a nonpartisan research and educational institute, because at Kuehne, chlorine gas comes to the plant in rail cars. "We must move beyond our current focus on site security. Site security, even if effective, does nothing to protect the millions of Americans who live along chemical delivery routes," said P.J. Crowley, a senior fellow for the Center for American Progress.