{"id":6055,"date":"2022-06-23T16:59:55","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T20:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=6055"},"modified":"2022-06-23T16:59:55","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T20:59:55","slug":"the-trials-and-tribulations-of-the-chemical-safety-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2022\/06\/23\/the-trials-and-tribulations-of-the-chemical-safety-board\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trials and Tribulations of the Chemical Safety Board"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (a.k.a the Chemical Safety Board or CSB) is a small agency with a noble mission — and a short and troubled history.<\/p>\n

The agency’s trials and tribulations took another turn last week when CSB Chair Katherine Lemos, a Trump appointee, announced her resignation, only half-way through her 5-year term.\u00a0 Lemos stated in a letter to the President<\/a> that \u201c’Recent priorities of the Board have eroded my confidence in our ability to focus’ on the independent agency\u2019s mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the announcement, Lemos stated in an email<\/a> to staff that her resignation would not be effective until July 22. Lemos<\/span> was reportedly joined in her exodus by Bruce Walker, a senior adviser who she know from her former position at Northrup Grumman.\u00a0 Lemos was a highly controversial appointee and her tenure has been plagued by accusations of mismanagement of funds, failure to issue reports and battles with other board members over management of Board operations.<\/p>\n

The CSB has not had a chair that served out their full term since 2007. Lemos was the third consecutive CSB chair to resign before the end of the term.\u00a0 Her predecessor, Vanessa Sutherland,<\/a> resigned in 2018 with two years left in her term to become a much better paid Vice President for legal affairs at the Norfolk Southern railroad. She’s now Executive Vice President for Legal Affairs at Phillips 66, an oil company that falls under the CSB’s jurisdiction. And Sutherland’s predecessor, Dr. Rafael Moure-Eraso. Moure-Eraso resigned<\/a> in 2015 while under investigation by Congress and the Inspector General for mismanagement of the agency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The CSB has not had a chair that served out their full term since 2007. Lemos was the third consecutive CSB chair to resign before the end of their term.<\/strong> <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

President Donald Trump was no fan of the CSB, proposing to eliminate the agency in each of his budgets. Trump argued that the board\u2019s focus on regulation had \u201cfrustrated both regulators and industry” (which many think was the CSB’s intended purpose.) Although Congress never went along with killing the agency, the Trump administration refused to fill the Board’s empty seats, appointing only Lemos to run the agency alone while a growing staffing shortage resulted in a rapidly rising backlog of unfinished investigations and reports.<\/p>\n

Congress recently confirmed two additional Board members nominated by Biden, Steve Owens and Sylvia Johnson, but failed to confirm a third Biden nominee, Jennifer Sass<\/a>, a highly qualified long-time Natural Resources Defense Counsel scientist. Sass was a victimized by Republicans, such as West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito who claimed that\u00a0 \u201cDr. Sass\u2019s criticism of the chemical industry included deriding the EPA for engaging with the American Chemistry Council about implementing the Toxic Substances Control Act in a .transparent manner.” Capito added that those statements show \u201cthat she’s not the right person for a board committed to transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Protecting Workers and Communities<\/h2>\n

The CSB was authorized by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 in the wake of catastrophic chemical plant accidents in this country, like the Philips 66 explosion<\/a>, which killed 23 workers in 1989, and incidents around the world, like the\u00a0Bhopal chemical release<\/a> that killed thousands in India in the mid-1980s. It\u2019s a tiny agency, with a budget of less than $13.4 million, five board members and at its peak, a staff of less than 50.<\/p>\n

Its early years were plagued with problems and management struggles, but agency probably reached peak effectiveness in the mid 2000s. During that time, mostly under the Chairpersonship of Carolyn Merritt, the Board issued numerous major reports and significant recommendations covering reactive hazards<\/a> that had cause numerous explosions and deaths, a report and recommendations after the 2005 explosion at the BP Texas City refiner<\/a>y, a report resulting from an explosions and deaths at a Daytona Beach wastewater plant<\/a> that called for OSHA coverage of public employees, and a major report on combustible dust hazards<\/a> that called on OSHA to issue a standard — just over a year before the catastrophic sugar dust explosion at Imperial Sugar<\/a> outside of Savannah, Georgia.<\/p>\n

Although the agency has no enforcement authority, its value lies in conducting root cause analyses of chemical disasters and issuing recommendations to government agencies like OSHA and EPA, as well as industry associations and labor unions. OSHA and EPA can enforce and issue penalties for violations of their Process Safety Management Standard and Risk Management Program, which regulate safety in chemical plants. The CSB, on the other hand, has no enforcement authority, but can go way beyond OSHA or EPA regulations to address other causes of incidents, and then issue recommendations<\/a> urging the federal and state agencies, companies, industry associations and labor unions to address them.<\/p>\n

The work of the agency has never been more needed.\u00a0<\/strong>Chemical fires, explosions, leaks and other harmful incidents continue to occur every few days.\u00a0<\/strong> <\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The work of the agency has never been more needed.\u00a0Chemical fires, explosions, leaks and other harmful incidents continue to occur every few days.\u00a0 The CSB tends to focus on major incidents, but there are an average of 142 incidents per year on average across the country, and data show there has been no significant decline in incidents for years. And people living near and working at chemical plants pay the price as workers are killed and injured and people in surrounding communities need to shelter in place or to seek medical treatment. And chemical plant disasters often lead to job loss and economic disruption as plants are closed for repair — or permanently.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lemos’s Legacy: Failure to Meet the CSB’s Mandate<\/h2>\n

In her email<\/a> to the staff, Lemos boasted that she had “contributed significantly to restoring the integrity and efficiency of the CSB in completing its mission. ” But her legacy tells otherwise.<\/p>\n

Under her chairpersonship, the small agency hasn’t lived up to its potential.\u00a0 While reports and recommendations are the CSB’s priority, the agency currently employs only nine investigators, ten fewer than it employed years ago. They’ve made no discernable progress in hiring during her tenure. And the agency has a huge and unprecedented backlog of 20 site investigations. Current investigations include a 2018\u00a0<\/strong>Husky Energy Refinery<\/a> explosion and fire in Superior, Wisconsin, a June 2019 explosion and massive fire at Philadelphia Energy Solutions Inc<\/a>. oil refinery, and a 2021 LyondellBasell<\/a> chemical release that killed two workers.<\/p>\n

In July 2021, a coalition of 22 chemical safety organizations sent a letter<\/a> to Lemos with a list of recommendations “to right the path of the CSB and assist in fulfilling the goals of protecting communities, workers, and our planet.” The suggestions included “a plan explaining how CSB will complete each open site investigation, with a target date for issuing final reports and recommendations.” The letter also asked Lemos to issue “a staff recruitment, training, and retention plan” and to request “direct hiring authority” that would accelerate hiring.<\/p>\n

The House Energy and Commerce Committee also held an oversight hearing<\/a> in last September which found that Lemos had made very little progress in moving the agency forward.<\/p>\n

A June 15 Houston Chronicle<\/a> Editorial, noting a recent liquefied natural gas transfer line that\u00a0explosion at a Freeport LNG facility<\/a>, laments that Lemos’s resignation:<\/p>\n

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leaves a leadership vacuum at a time when the agency is woefully short-staffed and behind on its work. It\u2019s also an opportunity for improved leadership, and we urge President Biden to fill her seat quickly….A fully staffed CSB led by an expert in the field of chemical and process safety can be a critical conduit for change for an industry too dangerous to be allowed to police itself.<\/p>\n

Intimidating Undocumented Workers<\/h2>\n

During a 2021 investigation into 6 deaths at the Foundation Foods poultry plant in Gainesville, Georgia processing plant after a liquid nitrogen leak, a coalition of 55 workers rights groups acting under the umbrella of the Georgia Immigrants Alliance, sent a letter<\/a> to the CSB, accusing agency leadership of collaborating with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE<\/em>). Because many of the plants workers were undocumented, the groups stated that such discussions raised “serious concerns that the workers and their families at Foundation Food will be threatened and intimidated if they cooperate with federal or state investigators, or that they will be further discouraged from seeking necessary medical care after exposure to hazardous liquid nitrogen.”<\/p>\n

CSB’s senior advisor Bruce Walker admitted being in contact with ICE, but denied<\/a> any conversations with ICE or the Department of Homeland security about undocumented workers at the plant. Nevertheless, CSB investigations depend on the testimony of workers who are familiar with plant operations and workers who are fearful of talking to government investigators are unlikely to be cooperative.<\/p>\n

In addition, Walker’s actions reportedly<\/p>\n

prompt[ed] an internal uproar among staff who did not sign up to be involved in enforcing immigration laws, but who are focused on the agency\u2019s mission of ensuring safety regardless of their personal political views. One person close to the agency said it is \u201cvery disheartening\u201d to agency staff. Another source wrote, \u201cThis is causing a large stir among investigators.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do the best we can to protect people and the information they provide,\u201d one person with close ties to the agency said. The contact with ICE is \u201ca kick in the gut regardless of where you stand on immigration. \u2026 This ICE thing made us appear to be liars.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Misconduct<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Along with her failure to hire staff and complete reports, Lemos was also accused of misconduct. Last year, the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibil<\/a>ity (PEER), calling her a “complete disaster,” obtained and circulated spending receipts showing Lemos<\/span>\u00a0had spent tens of thousands of dollars on expenses including furniture, airfare and hotels.<\/p>\n

Her resignation comes as she is facing a slew of Inspector General probes and growing calls for her ouster due to a pattern of misconduct, including, according to PEER:<\/span><\/p>\n