"A coalition of environmental, labor and public safety groups are calling on US lawmakers to reject the Trump administration’s move to eliminate a federal unit that investigates chemical accidents, citing risks to more than 170 million people who lives in zones at risk for such events.

In a July 17 letter to leaders in the US House and Senate, the coalition said the White House plan to eliminate the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) comes at a time when there have been at least 105 “serious chemical disasters” reported so far this year.

Last month alone saw explosions at an automobile parts manufacturer in Michigan and at an asphalt plant in South Carolina, a chemical leak at a Louisiana petrochemicals facility, and a toxic plume of anhydrous nitric acid from an explosives plant in Ohio that forced evacuations of hundreds of area residents, according to the coalition.

A 2023 report found that chemical accidents occur almost daily, on average, across the United States, exposing people to dangerous toxins through fires, explosions, leaks, spills and other releases."

Carey Gillam reports for The New Lede July 18, 2025. [2]