The Trump administration has stacked the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) with industry-aligned appointees who have a range of financial conflicts of interest and stand to profit from deregulation, according to a Guardian investigation.
The CSB is a small, independent federal agency created by the Clean Air Act of 1990 to investigate major chemical accidents, plant explosions, toxic spills, and other industrial disasters, and recommend safety fixes. It has no regulatory authority. Its only power is to investigate and publish findings.
That independence has made it a target. Trump has proposed eliminating the CSB four times, three times during his first term and once in his current term, arguing it duplicates the work of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. Each time, Congress refused to go along.
Now, with the House and Senate under Republican control, the administration has taken a different approach: rather than kill the board, it is packing it with people who share the industry’s hostility toward safety regulation.
Conflicts of Interest
The Guardian reported that several Trump appointees to the CSB have direct financial ties to the chemical and fossil fuel industries they are supposed to investigate. One appointee is a scientist whose research has been funded by chemical companies. Another has worked as a consultant for firms seeking to weaken safety rules.
Critics say the appointees are being chosen not for their expertise in preventing chemical disasters, but for their willingness to downplay risks and block aggressive investigations.
“The administration is putting industry mouthpieces on a board that is supposed to hold industry accountable,” said a former CSB staff member who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The two current board members, Steve Owens and Sylvia Johnson, both Biden-era appointees, have pushed back. Earlier this year, they publicly warned the Environmental Protection Agency not to roll back chemical disaster rules introduced under the Biden administration, calling it “a significant step backward” for public safety.
But their terms are limited. The CSB is designed to have five members. The Trump administration now controls the appointment process for any vacancies, meaning the board’s independence could be eliminated without Congress ever having to vote on it.
What’s at Stake
The CSB has investigated some of the worst industrial disasters in American history, including the 2013 West, Texas, fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people, and the 2019 Philadelphia refinery fire. Its safety recommendations have led to changes in how chemical plants handle hazardous materials.
Without a functioning, independent CSB, those investigations would fall to the EPA and OSHA, agencies that write the very regulations the CSB is supposed to help enforce. The board’s independence is its reason for existing. If that independence is replaced by industry loyalty, the board may still exist in name, but its purpose will be dead.