The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) has voted on party lines to advance President Trump’s nomination of Keith Sonderling to serve as Labor Secretary, clearing the way for a floor vote amid concerns from Democrats over Trump administration cuts to the OSHA budget and workforce.
September 16, 2026
EPA is proposing to align its Risk Management Program (RMP) regulation with OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) rules to avoid duplicative requirements and eliminate “unnecessary burdens” on facilities where there is no data to show the Biden-era approach would reduce accidental releases.
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EPA is poised to release its proposal scaling back the Biden administration’s Risk Management Program (RMP) rule, a measure that will spark heated debate as environmentalists charge the measure guts crucial protections from industrial incidents while industry groups say it is needed to end the “regulatory whiplash” that characterizes the policy.
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The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is opening an investigation into a fatal explosion at a munitions plant in Humphreys County, TN, where a team will be deployed to conduct an initial assessment of the incident location and other investigation efforts to determine the cause of the disaster.
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The White House regulatory review office is seeking to speed and streamline deregulatory actions, directing OSHA and other agencies to repeal “facially unlawful” regulations without notice and comment under the “good cause” exemption and skip certain consultations with state and local officials, tribes and others when issuing such actions.
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Chemical industry groups are continuing their long-running effort to have Congress renew a lapsed chemical safety program, citing in part concerns over worker safety and security gaps that undermine the industry’s operational integrity and ability to remain secure from the threat of terror attacks.
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The Trump EPA is indicating its plans to initiate a new rulemaking to reconsider the Biden administration’s Risk Management Program (RMP) final rule, voicing support for industry and GOP state efforts to put into abeyance their ongoing legal challenges to the Biden rule.
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The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has rescinded its controversial memo seeking to freeze a wide array of OSHA and other federal funds to review their consistency with Trump administration priorities after a federal judge temporarily stayed the measure.
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EPA is denying a petition from GOP states and chemical industry groups seeking reconsideration of its final risk management program (RMP) rule, a move that will restart paused litigation over the rule though the incoming Trump administration is expected to ask the court to remand the measure to revise it along the lines of its prior rulemaking.
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A three-judge appellate panel is evaluating whether EPA correctly determined that it has authority to regulate rail cars as a “stationary source” under its Risk Management Program (RMP) and emergency planning rules for facility safety, questioning how it should review the agency’s interpretation since the high court eliminated Chevron deference.
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