ACS requests Senate Appropriators support the Chemical Safety Board

July 6, 2021

The Honorable Jeff Merkley
Chair, Interior, Environment and
Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee
Committee on Appropriations
S-128 The Capitol
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Lisa Murkowski
Ranking Member, Interior, Environment and
Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee
Committee on Appropriations
S-128 The Capitol
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski:

The American Chemical Society (ACS) urges you to support robust funding for the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), in line with the House request of $13.4 million, in FY 2022 so the agency can fulfill its vital mission. The ACS represents over 155,000 chemists and chemical engineers and was chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1937 to provide well-founded recommendations on issues of importance to the nation and scientific community.

CSB has a critical mission to drive chemical safety change that reduces the risk of accidents that threatens lives and costs millions of dollars of damage. The ACS strongly supports safety in the chemistry enterprise, and the CSB provides an essential safety resource by conducting root cause investigations of chemical incidents.  Since its inception, the Board has deployed to more than 130 incidents and issued over 800 recommendations to make the chemical enterprise and our communities safer. The Board also performs investigations of general chemical hazards, providing an important preventative function to supplement their incident investigations. Safety organizations, trade associations, corporations, educational institutions, and many others rely on CSB recommendations to improve the safety of processes for workers, students, and the public.

The CSB has been funded at $12 million for the last three years, and it requires an increase in funding to ensure adequate staff for investigations and to implement a court-ordered incident reporting requirement. CSB has already deployed to multiple incident this year while continuing 19 investigations. As the appropriations process continues, the ACS hopes that the House and Senate can work together to provide sufficient funding for CSB to continue protecting the public, workers, and the environment. Should you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me or Will Hartwig (w_hartwig@acs.org).

Sincerely,   

Anthony Pitagno

CC:
The Honorable Patrick Leahy
The Honorable Richard Shelby