EPA is extending by several weeks its deadline for public input on the Trump administration's proposed rule scaling back the Obama-era update to the agency's facility accident prevention program to allow input on data EPA recently added to a public docket after environmentalists noted it was missing and requested additional time for comment.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is urging a federal court to reject environmentalists' suit seeking to require a rule mandating facilities report their accidental releases, charging, among other things, that the plaintiffs lack standing, though CSB says that if the court requires such a rule it may be “difficult” given administration plans to kill the agency.
EPA is faulting environmentalists' claims that a recent ruling vacating a highway agency's penalty delay backs their suit seeking to scrap the Trump administration's delay of an Obama-era update to EPA's facility safety program, arguing that the Clean Air Act grants EPA authority to set rules' effective dates, and that it sought input prior to issuing the delay.
As the Trump administration works to roll back the Obama-era rule strengthening EPA's facility accident prevention program, House Democrats are seeking to codify portions of the rule in pending legislation renewing the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) facility security program and incorporate some of its provisions into any future DHS program.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is urging lawmakers to bolster chemical information sharing between facilities and communities even as EPA is proposing to scrap some of the provisions of the Obama-era final rule updating its facility accident prevention program that would bolster such sharing of facility data.
Labor and other groups are asking a federal court to quickly require the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) to issue a rule requiring chemical facilities to report their accidental releases following an incident, arguing they have standing to bring their case and that a slew of government documents establish a record of CSB's inaction.
Even as the Trump administration works to roll back Obama-era measures strengthening facility safety rules, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is urging EPA and OSHA to strengthen their requirements after its investigation of industrial incidents sparked by Hurricane Harvey flood waters found that the agencies do not adequately address risks.
The Trump administration plan to scrap the Obama-era rule strengthening EPA's facility accident prevention program and wait for the OSHA to advance a similar rulemaking could stall changes to facility oversight for the foreseeable future, as OSHA has shelved plans to update its companion rule.
The Trump administration is proposing to scrap most requirements of the Obama-era final rule updating EPA's facility accident prevention program, rescinding numerous new safety requirements in response to industry and state petitions, and arguing that EPA failed to adequately coordinate with other agencies in issuing the costly changes.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) says that a process safety management (PSM) system like the one required under OSHA's PSM rule could have prevented a fatal February 2017 explosion at a Louisiana paper mill, putting new pressure on the Trump administration to revive an Obama-era effort to strengthen OSHA's regulation.