This article originally appeared in Chemical Solutions, Issue 12.
With members of chemical industry trade associations standing beside him, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt signed revisions to EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP) in May that eliminate safety protections for workers, first responders and communities.
Pruitt removed many safety and risk management items from the Obama era—including all accident prevention program provisions—that pertain to 12,500 U.S. facilities, including chemical plants and refineries.
He said the revised slate of proposed rules “reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens.”
These “unnecessary burdens” include eliminating the requirement that owners of a chemical plant evaluate options for safer technology and procedures that would mitigate hazards; removing the requirement that companies conduct a “root-cause analysis” after a “catastrophic” chemical release or an incident that might have caused one (near miss); and ending the requirement that a third-party compliance audit be done after an accident at a plant or when conditions are discovered that could lead to an accidental release of chemicals.
Also removed would be outside audits of company risk-management plans to ensure they are adequate. Pruitt’s changes would make it harder for citizens living around plants with chemicals to protect themselves by finding out the types of chemicals stored, the types of procedures the plant has in place to mitigate the risks and what to do in case of an emergency. First responders would still have this information readily available to them.
The 2013 explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, which killed 15 people, including 10 firefighters, and destroyed part of the town prompted the Obama-era rules. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) investigated the incident and discovered that the town’s volunteer firefighters did not have any formal training or planning to prepare them to handle a fire or emergency at the fertilizer plant. The board said that changes were needed in regulations and transparency to prevent a repeat tragedy.
After the West explosion, the EPA changed its regulations about how companies store dangerous flammable chemicals and how they develop risk-management plans. These new rules were going to take effect in June 2017, but Pruitt delayed them.
Before making a final decision on the proposed rule changes, the EPA is soliciting public comment. A public hearing was held June 14, 2018.