EPA steps back as chemical accident data becomes harder

RMP rules – New statistics released by PEER come with a familiar fight: forcing the federal Chemical Safety Board to release industrial chemical release data communities are owed. As the Trump administration proposes weakening Risk Management Program rules finalized in 20

For the third year in a row, communities have been living with a question that shouldn’t be hard to answer: what hazardous chemicals are being released nearby.

This time. the pressure is coming from the courts and from new figures made public by PEER after the group and others sued to compel the Chemical Safety Board to disclose industrial chemical releases as required by the Clean Air Act. A federal judge ruled in 2019 that communities have a right to know what hazardous chemicals are released nearby.

Even as those data disputes play out, the Trump administration moved in the opposite direction on access to risk information. The EPA removed a public data tool designed to inform communities of nearby risks last year. The administration also tried to eliminate the Chemical Safety Board by withholding funding. though Congress has continued to fund the agency.

Earlier this year, the administration proposed to significantly weaken the RMP rules finalized in 2024 “to reduce regulatory burden,” and accepted public comment on the rules until early May.

The Biden administration’s RMP rules, by contrast, were built around reducing the odds of catastrophic chemical accidents. The strengthened requirements include safer-alternatives analyses. independent analyses of accidents’ root causes. worker participation in accident-prevention plans. and preparations to adapt to climate change.

In the proposal now before the public, an EPA spokesperson said the agency is reviewing comments and is working toward completing the final rule in late 2026.

The spokesperson said: “EPA’s proposal relies on a rigorous analysis of RMP reportable incidents between 2014 and 2023. which shows accidental releases unequivocally declined significantly over that period.” The spokesperson added that “this means that RMP-regulated facilities had successful prevention programs in place before the Biden EPA finalized its nonsensical and burdensome 2024 rule.”.

PEER disputes that interpretation. “The Biden EPA used the same data and came to the opposite conclusion,” said PEER’s Ruch. He also argued that “the conclusion that any decline is due to industry prevention plans is a supposition which the current EPA does not have the data to support.”

What both sides agree on is that chemical accidents still happen—and they happen enough to feel routine rather than exceptional. Chemical accidents resulting in evacuations, injuries, or multiple casualties continue to happen at least once a week.

For PEER, the pattern is about more than numbers. “With each passing year the risk gets greater because the infrastructure continues to age,” Ruch said. He added that “at the same time, the federal response to it is shrinking.”

The sequence is hard to miss: a lawsuit seeks disclosure of industrial chemical releases under the Clean Air Act; a judge ruled in 2019 that communities have a right to know; the EPA removed a public tool last year meant to inform communities of nearby risks; and now the administration is proposing to loosen RMP rules while the public still waits for the agency’s late 2026 final decision.

Through all of it, the underlying stake is immediate. When hazardous releases lead to evacuations, injuries, or multiple casualties, access to information isn’t abstract—it determines whether communities can prepare, and whether prevention rules are strong enough to keep accidents from escalating.

chemical accidents PEER Chemical Safety Board Clean Air Act RMP rules risk management program EPA Trump administration Biden administration public data tool industrial chemical releases climate change adaptation