Seventeen AGs Petitioned EPA to Reconsider its Chemical Accident Safety Rule Rollback

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of 17 attorneys general in filing a petition for reconsideration of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rollback of key parts of the Chemical Accident Safety Rule, which applies to more than 12,000 facilities across the country that use and store hazardous materials. In their petition, the AGs pushed back on the EPA’s contention that certain safeguards in the rule are no longer necessary because chemical accidents are supposedly declining in frequency. The AGs pointed to a number of recent and serious accidents, including the massive fire and explosion in June 2019 at a refinery in South Philadelphia that resulted in the release of more than 5,000 pounds of hydrofluoric acid. The AGs also noted that the EPA has failed to address recommendations from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board that called for the agency to evaluate the adequacy of risk management plans for refineries that use hydrogen fluoride and to consider the use of safer technologies.