EPA Tightens Chemical Plant Safety Rules Eased by Trump

To prevent accidents at chemical plants and other industrial sites, the Biden administration on Friday tightened regulations that were relaxed during the Trump administration.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it completed amendments to its Risk Management Program, providing the most protective safety provisions for chemical facilities in U.S. history that require stronger measures for prevention, preparedness, and public transparency.

“Many communities that are vulnerable to chemical accidents are in overburdened and underserved areas of the country,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a news release. “This final rule is a critical piece of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advancing environmental justice by putting in place stronger safety requirements for industrial facilities and new measures to protect communities from harm.”

The Obama administration tried to strengthen rules following a 2013 explosion at a fertilizer plant in Texas that killed 15 people, The New York Times reported. But the Trump administration rolled back most of those rules before they took effect. In 2021, the EPA said it planned to restore the rules.

The EPA said the safeguards include provisions that empower workers in safety decisions and increasing access to RMP facility information for communities living and working in the surrounding areas. To further enhance public transparency, in the coming months, the EPA said it is working toward making RMP information available on the agency’s website.

The EPA said the new rule covers all 11,740 regulated facilities across the country and contains more rigorous requirements for a subgroup of facilities that are more accident-prone and pose the greatest risk to communities. The EPA estimated that accidental releases from RMP facilities cost more than $540 million a year and added that approximately 131 million people live within three miles of RMP facilities.