Trump’s EPA Rolls Back Chemical Disaster Safeguards Protecting Communities and Workers
Statement of Stephanie Thomas, Houston-Based Organizer and Researcher, Public Citizen
Note: Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the final rollback of the 2017 Risk Management Plan Amendments, also known as the chemical disaster rule, which was enacted because of President Barack Obama’s executive order to improve chemical safety in response to the 2013 fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas.
In the Trump administration, human lives are expendable, but short-term corporate profits are not. Today’s rollback of the chemical disaster rule keeps Americans who are at risk in the face of chemical disasters squarely in harm’s way.
Recent chemical incidents in Texas and elsewhere across the country have seriously harmed or killed workers and have exposed communities to toxic chemicals. Communities need protection now. Yet the Trump administration would rather save its corporate cronies a few bucks in the short-term than protect people.