Leaders on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) appear likely to support President Joe Biden’s latest nominees to the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), after lawmakers on both sides of the aisle appeared to praise their qualifications and welcomed their promises to focus on hiring at the short-staffed agency.
September 16, 2026
Employers and trade groups are warning OSHA against moving forward with planned reforms to the process safety management (PSM) standard, arguing that they would make the rule less flexible without proof they are needed for safety, and that it must ensure the PSM program remains aligned with EPA’s risk management program (RMP) facility safety rule.
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A coalition of 20 Democratic attorneys general (AGs) is calling on EPA to strengthen its proposed risk management program (RMP) rule, saying it should require facilities to adopt inherently safer technologies and other measures that the proposal would make optional, and bolster consideration of natural disasters worsened by climate change.
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Chemical and other facility operators are urging EPA to reconsider its proposed rule strengthening the risk management program (RMP), charging that the agency has failed to consult adequately with its own experts, resulting in a plan that is “legally vulnerable” because the agency has underestimated its costs and failed to show it will reduce risks.
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In response to warnings from federal agency watchdogs, the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has hired a chief information officer (CIO) to improve information-technology efforts, as well as bolster cybersecurity at the board.
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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’s Office of Inspector General (OIG)’s annual report on management challenges facing the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) says vacancies at top staff positions as well as in three of the panel’s five seats remain threats to its work, especially after rule changes that bar the board from functioning with a single member.
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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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Labor groups and employers used a recent hearing on OSHA’s plans for a long-promised update to the process safety management (PSM) standard to set out competing demands for the rulemaking, while officials from the agency itself vowed to ensure the new policy will still be “compatible” with EPA’s pending revisions to its own facility safety rule.
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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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