The chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, Rafael Monre-Eraso, testifies before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Thursday morning.
Update: This was updated at 1:58 p.m EST to reflect safety advocates’ concern that the bill introduced by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WV, will not address threats like the ones posed by plant similar to West Fertilizer, and to include a video interview with Greenpeace USA’s Rich Hind.
WASHINGTON — Sen. Barbara Boxer, chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, told an official with the EPA this morning that she’s dismayed by the agency’s apparent reluctance to
But Boxer, who has made chemical safety enhancements a priority following the deadly explosion in West, Texas, also said she agrees with the panel’s top Republican that new laws are less important than ensuring that existing rules are enforced.
The April 17, 2012 explosion in West, where 15 people died and hundreds were injured, April, was on the minds and in the comments of nearly every speaker this morning. That disaster was linked with two others as prime examples of the failure of current regulations to keep workers and nearby communities safe. The other two are the January chemical spill that contaminated drinking water for 300,000 in West Virginia and a 2012 vapor cloud explosion at a California oil refinery.
