A chemical-sector trade group is laying out ways facilities can maintain their current recordkeeping and security practices even after Congress allowed the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program to expire, saying companies still have options to continue many of its protections as they wait for a reauthorization vote.
The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is urging chemical facility officers to prepare quickly for what could be more frequent and more powerful hurricanes and other extreme wind events in the future and this season in particular, pointing to two recent reports as evidence of the dangers several hurricanes can pose to the sites.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is calling on EPA to “claw back” almost $100,000 of money “wasted” by former Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) chair Katherine Lemos, following a report from EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) that found she misspent board funds on travel and other expenses during her time as its sole member.
The Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is touting releases of 12 final investigation reports since July 2022, saying it has completed two thirds of the agency’s “enormous” backlog of work within the past year and is on track to “completely eliminate” the list by the end of 2023, as board staffing gradually improves following years of shortages.
Facing a looming July 27 deadline, Congress appears poised to reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) chemical facility security program for two years, after a key senator agreed to support a House bill that fell short of his push for a longer five-year extension.
Republican leaders on the House homeland security committee are backing a bill to reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program into 2025, just weeks ahead of its expiration on July 27, even as a bipartisan Senate coalition is seeking a five-year extension instead.
The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has issued a new report urging OSHA to craft a “comprehensive outreach plan” to improve employers’ handling of explosive chemicals and reactive hazards, as well as renewing long-standing calls to tighten safety standards for those substances, following a 2020 explosion that killed a worker.
EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) says the former chair of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), who was the board’s only member for over a year, violated spending rules, potentially bolstering Biden appointees’ rollback of policies she enacted giving the CSB chair new unilateral authority including on certain spending decisions.
Republican and Democratic leaders on the Senate’s environment and homeland security committees are floating a bill to reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program into 2028 with no statutory changes, drawing support from industry groups who have urged Congress to act quickly before the program expires on July 27.
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is questioning the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on implementation of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program, including a long-discussed overhaul of its governing rules, as they weigh reauthorizing CFATS before it expires on July 27.