Chemical accidents rise as Trump administration proposes to weaken safety rules

The new statistics from PEER were published as a result of a lawsuit filed by PEER and other groups to force the Chemical Safety Board to disclose industrial chemical releases as required under the Clean Air Act. A federal judge ruled in 2019 that communities have a right to know what dangerous chemicals are being released nearby.

However, Trump’s EPA removed a public data tool designed to inform communities of nearby hazards last year. President Trump also attempted to abolish the Chemical Safety Board by withholding funding, although Congress continues to fund the agency.

Earlier this year, the administration proposed significantly weakening the RMP rules finalized in 2024 to “reduce regulatory burden” and accepted public comment on the rules until early May.

The Enhanced Risk Management Plan rules approved by the Biden administration require a number of measures to reduce the risk of catastrophic accidents, including analyzes of safer alternatives, independent analyzes of the root causes of accidents, worker participation in accident prevention plans and climate change adaptation preparations.

An EPA spokesperson said the agency is reviewing public comments and continues to work toward completing the final rule in late 2026.

“EPA’s proposal is based on a careful analysis of RMP incidents reported between 2014 and 2023, which shows that accidental releases have unequivocally declined over that period,” the spokesperson said. “This means that RMP-regulated facilities had successful prevention programs in place before Biden’s EPA finalized the illogical and burdensome 2024 rule.”

PEER’s Roach said Biden’s EPA used the same data and reached the opposite conclusion. Additionally, he added, “the conclusion that any decline is due to industrial prevention plans is an assumption that the current EPA does not have the data to support.”

Meanwhile, chemical incidents continue to result in evacuations, injuries, or multiple casualties at least once a week.

“With each passing year, the risk increases because the infrastructure continues to advance,” Roche said. At the same time, he added, “the federal response to it is shrinking.”

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization covering climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.