A new report from the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) claims the expansion of nitrogen fertilizer production since the 2013 West, TX, explosion is endangering public safety and the environment due in part to lax rules for the sector, urging EPA and OSHA to bolster facility-safety requirements for storing ammonium nitrate among other policy changes.
November 15, 2026
With new support from 18 more lawmakers, a group of House and Senate Democrats is renewing its call for EPA to toughen its proposed risk management program (RMP) rule when it finalizes the rule later this year, seeking to shore up the rulemaking just days after one of their key supporters announced plans to leave EPA after failing to win Senate confirmation.
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EPA will collect $600,000 in penalties for alleged Risk Management Program (RMP) violations by a Denver chemical distribution site under a newly announced settlement that also includes a $200,000 supplemental environmental project (SEP) -- just as the agency is readying a new RMP rule that would tighten many of its requirements.
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A federal investigative agency is ramping up calls for the Biden administration to strengthen a proposed safety rule aimed at preventing chemical-facility incidents, though in recently filed comments the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) backs some provisions that safety advocates oppose or takes a different approach to strengthening other provisions.
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EPA has denied industry requests to extend comments on its proposed overhaul of the risk management plan (RMP) rule mandating safeguards against spills and releases of hazardous substance at many facilities, rejecting claims by several trade associations that 60 days is not enough time to fully analyze the “complex” proposal.
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The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is renewing its calls for EPA to strengthen its oversight of refiners’ use of hydrofluoric acid (HF), in a report on a 2019 refinery incident that urges officials to prioritize HF for risk evaluation under TSCA and to require a safer-alternatives review under the risk management plan (RMP) program.
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Industry groups appear to be conceding that EPA will finalize a new risk management plan (RMP) regulation despite their early calls to retain a 2019 rule that rolled back Obama-era changes to the program, while renewing arguments for a lenient approach based on accident data they say shows there is no need for “prescriptive” new facility-safety mandates.
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A top official in EPA’s waste office is making the case for the agency to finalize a risk management plan (RMP) rule he said would be “improved” from the Trump administration’s, rejecting industry claims that the current policy is adequate even as environmentalists charge that the pending proposal needs to be significantly strengthened.
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A pair of environmental groups is touting a new report that it says shows that EPA’s proposed risk management program (RMP) rule would not have prevented several recent, high-profile incidents, renewing their push for the agency to tighten key provisions just days before a series of public hearings on the rulemaking.
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Despite EPA’s proposal of a facility safety rule that goes beyond the provisions of an Obama-era regulation, environmentalists are pressing the agency to require more actions, saying provisions in the proposed risk management program (RMP) rule do not go far enough to protect overburdened communities and prevent chemical spills.
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