Source: Chemical Safety
Storms are inevitable in the world. How various countries and nations prepare for them is a unique trait. Here in the United States the main agency is Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The United States is a 'reactionary' nation rather than a 'proactive' nation. Instead of preparing for a disaster, the disaster occurs and then an evaluation happens after which a political sparring match occurs and finally funding arrives. Yes, I am being negative.
On top of all of that negativity is that there are dangers posed by corporations which have chemicals that need to be regulated and inspected before a storm occurs. That agency is is the Environmental Protection Agency which has been lacking to say the least. Therefore, the 'reactionary' method will employ the Chemical Safety Board. Recently, the head of which has resigned leaving the direction uncertain -- which is not good -- while entering storm season.
Chemical Safety Board
In order to understand the importance of the Chemical Safety Board, here is a short introduction from Wikipedia:
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, generally referred to[1] as the Chemical Safety Board or CSB, is an independent U.S. federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the agency's board members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the United States Senate. The CSB conducts root cause investigations of chemical accidents at fixed industrial facilities.[2]
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is authorized by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and became operational in January 1998. The Senate legislative history states: "The principal role of the new chemical safety board is to investigate accidents to determine the conditions and circumstances which led up to the event and to identify the cause or causes so that similar events might be prevented." Congress gave the CSB a unique statutory mission and provided in law that no other agency or executive branch official may direct the activities of the Board. Following the successful model of the National Transportation Safety Board and the Department of Transportation, Congress directed that the CSB's investigative function be completely independent of the rulemaking, inspection, and enforcement authorities of the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Congress recognized that Board investigations would identify chemical hazards that were not addressed by those agencies.[3]
As I mentioned above, the Chemical Safety Board is a 'reactionary' step in the process of solving problems. The Environmental Protection Agency is charged with implementing regulations for keeping safe track (including storage) of chemicals used in industry. Although, over the last year and a half, EPA director Scott Pruitt has carried out 'historical' cuts as discussed in a previous post on this site. The dismissals at the EPA has put the safety of the citizens of this nation at greater risk due to the inability to regulate industries and their safe keeping of chemicals along with dangerous practices in the pursuit of saving money for shareholders. This should be concerning.
Now, according to recent reporting by Politico Energy, heading into hurricane season (or storm season), the nation is in greater danger as shown below:
CSB FAULTS HURRICANE PREP AT CHEMICAL PLANTS: The U.S. Chemical Safety Board said Thursday that chemical plants need to better prepare for hurricanes and potential floods after releasing findings from its investigation into an explosion at the Arkema chemical plant during Hurricane Harvey last summer. "Our investigation found that there is a significant lack of guidance in planning for flooding or other severe weather events," CSB Chairperson Vanessa Allen Sutherland said. "... As we prepare for this year's hurricane season, it is critical that industry better understand the safety hazards posed by extreme weather events."— Speaking of hurricane season: This year's hurricane season is not expected to be quite as bad as last year, Pro's Ben Lefebvre reports. NOAA forecast a 75 percent chance that this year's hurricane season will be at-or-above normal levels for major storms. The likelihood is that 10-16 named storms will form, with up to four of those liable to become major hurricanes. Read more.
That reporting was over a week ago. Last Tuesday, reporting from "The Scientist" followed up with more bad news regarding the last safety net -- Chemical Safety Board:
Vanessa Allen Sutherland will resign next month as chair of the US Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board. With the vacancy, the board will drop to having only three members—two short of the standard five, C&EN reported earlier this week (May 22).“The remaining board members will be required to vote on an interim executive, unless and until the White House nominates and the Senate confirms a new Chairperson,” the board, usually referred to as the Chemical Safety Board (CSB), says in a statement. However, that nomination is in doubt, C&EN notes, as the Trump administration has twice tried to shut down the CSB altogether.
This is not great news for the fate of the Chemical Safety Board. Especially, heading into hurricane season. The Chemical Safety Board is an agency which each of us should watch closely since the fate of the organization directly impacts our well-being. Below, a video and excerpt will serve as evidence of the importance of the last chance (reactionary) organization for ensuring safety among industries.
Hurricane Season Approaches
Hurricane season is upon us according to some accounts. The question naturally arise as to whether we (as a nation) have improved our disaster preparedness from last Hurricane Season -- when Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, and Hurricane Maria ripped through some states. According to Politico Energy, Hurricane season is not going to go well for FEMA as shown below:
THE STORY OF THE HURRICANES: With just days until the June 1st start to hurricane season, a POLITICO investigation into FEMA found numerous low-income families were denied funding from the agency because they lived within a flood zone and failed to carry flood insurance — a legal requirement that many of them were unaware of.POLITICO’s Danny Vinik reports this morning from Texas’ Kashmere Gardens — a historically African-American neighborhood in Houston that is still trying to recover from Hurricane Harvey — and the hodgepodge of programs that help middle-class neighborhoods bounce back, but leave many poor and minority areas behind. He found that many families struggle with language issues and are inexperienced in dealing with the federal bureaucracy, leaving them to navigate a system that even FEMA officials agree is overly complicated.And while more federal money is on the way to Texas, it may take a year or more after Harvey struck to reach communities like Kashmere Gardens, which are desperately trying to rebuild, Danny writes. Yet, the problems in Houston aren’t surprising to FEMA experts and others familiar with the complicated quilt of programs designed to help those in need of disaster assistance. “This is a recurring and systemic problem that we find with the delivery of federal recovery dollars,” said Fred Tombar, the senior adviser for disaster recovery at the Department of Housing and Urban Development from 2009 to 2013. Read more here.AND IN PUERTO RICO: The mayor of one of the island's largest cities worried about the upcoming storm season and how another hit to its fragile power grid could throw the U.S. territory back into the dark. “I’m afraid we are not prepared to receive another [hurricane],” Ponce Mayor Maria Meléndez told Pro’s David Beavers during a visit to Washington last week. “The electricity system will fall down again if we don’t manage it more rapidly.” Read that story here.
Hurricane Harvey ripped through the Houston area to produce massive problems for the area. People have the impression that the area has recovered completely - which is anything but the truth. Although, even during a good economic time in Houston, problems were widespread within the real estate industry. News accounts after the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey detailed house buyers experience and the added costs of 'flood insurance.' Here is the page (index) for the coverage of Hurricane Harvey by NPR.
On top of the damage done to the housing sector was damage done to the corporations. In particular, a chemical corporation by the name of Arkama in Houston suffered catastrophic losses due to chemicals which were destroyed while being stored in unstable conditions. This resulted in a giant explosion and the release of toxic chemicals into the air for the residents of the surrounding community to suffer health problems from breathing the air in their houses and communities. The chemical Safety Board was charged to carry out an investigation. Here is a 13 minute video produced to explain the findings of the investigation of Arkama in Houston (Texas):
Wow. The video above drives home the importance of the Chemical Safety Board. Investigating a disaster after the occurrence is super important for the prevention of future disasters. If the government is short on resources, then who is going to investigate the problem? Furthermore, who is going to make recommendations on future practices which can be funded by Congress and passed on to regulatory agencies for future prevention of such disasters?
The importance of chemical safety regulation cannot be overstated. Chemical safety is saddled on each of us. Which sounds rather discouraging. Although, the safety of the public is at risk. Therefore, if you encounter a dangerous situation in any industry which handles chemicals, say something. Here is a minute long video which demonstrates the simplicity of chemical safety:
Chemical safety impacts all of us at some fundamental level.
Conclusion...
The uncertainty surrounding the Chemical Safety Board should be unsettling to each of us. Any attempt to dismantle this extremely important organization is a threat to each of us. Therefore, the status of the organization is important to track. If the government attempts to shut this down, as the public, we should ensure that there is an equivalent resource in place to investigate disasters and generate future reports on prevention of future disasters.
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