The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is in the crosshairs yet again, as the Trump Administration moves to eliminate this vital safety agency for the third time.
The Chemical Safety Board is responsible for investigating the root cause of major chemical explosions and disasters at industrial plants, refineries, and pipelines throughout the United States.
As a leading Oilfield Accident Lawyer, Ryan Zehl recognizes the Board’s invaluable role in ensuring workplace safety across a range of industries. Although it lacks enforcement power, its investigations and resulting recommendations have not only changed the way certain businesses operate, they’ve undoubtedly saved lives.
Trump’s 2020 Budget Eliminates Chemical Safety Board Funding
The Chemical Safety Board operates on an annual budget of just $12 million.
That’s miniscule for a federal agency. But evidently too much for the Trump Administration, which eliminated all funding for the Board in its 2020 budget proposal.
“It’s a remarkably stupid move,” Mike Wright, the United Steelworkers’ director of health, safety and environment, told Bloomberg News. “In my opinion, they are one of the best bargains in Washington.”
The White House also attempted to do-away with the Chemical Safety Board in its 2018 and 2019 budget proposals. Both times, a Republican-led Congress refused to go along with the administration and restored the funding.
With Democrats now in charge of the House, the Board will likely see its 2020 funding restored as well.
Trump Targeted Many Other Vital Workplace Safety Regulations
Unfortunately, eliminating the Chemical Safety Board is only one aspect of President Trump’s radical campaign against workplace safety regulations.
Since taking office, his administration has halted the enactment of the Chemical Disaster Rule, withdrawn a proposed regulation to prevent combustible dust explosions, and abandoned a proposal to require sleep apnea screening for drivers of commercial trucks, buses, and trains.
Trump’s Interior Department is also on the verge of issuing a revised Well Control Rule, which eliminates or weakens many of the regulations enacted by the Obama Administration in the wake of the deadly Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig explosion.
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