Trump puts public, workers at risk as he tries again to eliminate nations chemical safety agency

[babylonsister]

Trump puts public, workers at risk as he tries again to eliminate nation’s chemical safety agency
Agency employees are currently investigating deadly natural gas well explosion in Oklahoma.
Mark Hand
Feb 2, 2018, 3:47 pm


As part of his administration’s rollback of key safety and environmental protections, President Donald Trump wants to eliminate the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, a federal agency with a strong record of improving public safety. The proposed gutting of the agency comes as the Trump administration seeks to give a boost to the nation’s petrochemical industry as part of its “energy dominance” agenda.

As with his FY 2018 budget, Trump’s new budget proposal will call for wiping out the Chemical Safety Board’s entire $12 million budget, Bloomberg News reported Thursday. The agency is charged with investigating major chemical fires, explosions, leaks, and other accidents.

The Chemical Safety Board, with its relatively small budget, plays an oversized role among federal agencies. In 2017, in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, the agency was on the frontlines, looking into a fire and explosions at a chemical facility, owned by French company Arkema Inc., northeast of Houston. Fifteen sheriff’s deputies were sent to the hospital on the morning of August 31, 2017, after responding to the chemical fire and falling ill in the middle of the road.

The board was created as part of the Clean Air Act amendments in 1990 and began operations in 1998. The agency’s recommendations are often adopted by industry and government agencies. For example, the agency, with only 40 staff, investigated the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and has performed more than 130 investigations since it began operations in 1998. The agency is modeled after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigates plane crashes and other major accidents. Like the NTSB, the Chemical Safety Board is an independent agency.

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https://thinkprogress.org/trump-eliminate-chemical-safety-agency-76e59a801270/

[procon]

1. Living things have no place in the Republican worldview.

Their entire philosophy is based on greed. The wealthy can create their own government to ensure the power and status of Americas new class of fabulously rich oligarchs. They can use their obscene wealth to build their own private enclaves where the air and water is always plentiful, safe and pure.

Every other living thing on the planet is on their own.