White House Wants to Shut Down Chemical Safety Investigators
2018 Budget Kills Off the Agency Probing the Toxic Houston Chemical Fire; Congress Wants to Keep It
By Sarah Okeson
The Trump administration wants to kill off the tiny, independent agency that is investigating the French company where volatile chemicals in Texas exploded after Hurricane Harvey.
Trump’s proposed $1.1 trillion budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 would not fund the Chemical Safety Board, an agency with less than 50 employees and a budget this year of about $11 million or about one thousandth of 1% of Trump’s overall proposed budget.
The board is investigating Arkema, where chemicals exploded at the company’s Crosby, Texas, facility about 25 miles from downtown Houston. Last week three trailers ignited; each was filled with a half-ton of volatile organic peroxides used in plastics and paints. Arkema intentionally burned six others on Sunday.
The Chemical Safety Board has also warned oil and chemical companies to take precautions when restarting plants that were shut down because of the hurricane. Companies have reported more than 1 million pounds of dangerous air pollutants released along the Texas Gulf coast in the week after Harvey.
“It’s clear that what actions and precautions were taken and were in place have proved inadequate,” said Bill Hoyle, a former senior investigator for the board. “When Crosby is resolved, there are many more dominoes to fall in the region.”
https://www.dcreport.org/2017/09/05/white-house-wants-to-shut-down-chemical-safety-investigators/