US EPA faces litigation over gutting of chemical disaster rule

Environmental and trade union organisations have sued the US EPA for gutting regulations designed to improve safety at chemical facilities. The lawsuits aim to reverse a Trump administration rollback of the Obama-era Chemical Disaster Rule. The original rule – which took the form of an amendment to the Risk Management Program (RMP) – was meant to make it easier for the public to access hazard planning documents, provide increased information to local officials and require more coordination with first responders. The Obama administration developed it in the wake of a 2013 explosion at a Texas fertiliser plant that killed 15 people. But the EPA in November released its Risk Management Program Reconsideration Rule, which rids chemical plants of what EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said are "unnecessary regulatory burdens" imposed by the previous administration.