Steelworkers sue EPA over changes to chemical safety rule

United Steelworkers is suing the Environmental Protection Agency and its administrator, Andrew Wheeler, over the agency’s recent changes to the Obama-era Chemical Disaster Rule. In a lawsuit filed Jan. 7 in the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, USW is petitioning the court to restore the original text of the rule. EPA’s Risk Management Program Reconsideration final rule, which took effect Dec. 19, eliminated various provisions intended to prevent future incidents at chemical facilities. The rule was finalized Jan. 13, 2017, but was delayed numerous times before it went into effect Feb. 19, 2019. It was prompted, in part, by an April 2013 explosion at a fertilizer facility in West, TX, that killed 15 people and injured more than 260 others.