Turmoil continues at the US Chemical Safety Board

Abstract

Earlier this year, it seemed like the long-beleaguered US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board might be entering a steadier state. After functioning with only one of its five members—chair Katherine Lemos—for 2 years, two more board members had been confirmed by the Senate and started work in February. But merely 2 days after President Joe Biden nominated another board member, Lemos resigned. Lemos’s resignation followed disagreements with the two new board members over leadership direction and board management decisions, according to several people familiar with the CSB, a nonregulatory agency with authority and responsibility to investigate significant accidents related to chemicals. The new members are Sylvia Johnson, an epidemiologist with labor union experience, and Steve Owens, an attorney and former federal and Arizona state regulator who focused on environmental, safety, and health issues. “Recent priorities of the Board have eroded my confidence in our ability to focus,” Lemos wrote