Press Release  D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Orders EPA to Implement Chemical Safety Rule

BOSTON — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia today ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s delay of a critical chemical disaster rule was illegal, the latest in a string of victories by Attorney General Maura Healey and states challenging the Trump Administration’s rollbacks public health and environmental protections.

AG Healey released the following statement on today’s ruling:

“After years of death and destruction from preventable chemical explosions and accidents, our first responders and all Americans deserve an EPA that acts to ensure public safety. My office took action to stop the chemical lobby and its allies inside the Administration from blocking a rule that will save lives. We are pleased the Court responded to our challenge by putting a stop to this illegal delay.”

AG Healey was part of a coalition of 11 attorneys general who sued the EPA in June 2017 over the agency’s decision to delay – by at least 20 months – the date when facilities that handle or house extremely dangerous chemicals must comply with January 2017 regulations that strengthen chemical risk management practices.

Following a request by a number of oil, gas, and chemical industry associations and companies, former Administrator Scott Pruitt twice delayed the Chemical Accident Safety Rule’s effective date including in June 2017 when he pushed back the date to Feb. 19, 2019.

The Chemical Accident Safety Rule requires owners and operators of these facilities to develop a risk management plan to prevent explosions, fires, and releases of poisonous gases, and other accidental releases at facilities that use or store dangerous chemicals. Those plans help local fire, police, and other first responders prepare for and respond to chemical accidents.

In the last 10 years, there have been more than 1,500 accidents at chemical plants around the country, including 15 in Massachusetts at nine regulated facilities that handle dangerous chemicals. Nationally, these accidents caused 58 deaths; 17,099 people to be injured or seek medical treatment; almost 500,000 people to be evacuated or sheltered-in-place; and over $2 billion in property damage. 

Massachusetts itself is not immune from high profile and harmful chemical explosions. For example, two chemical explosions at Dow Chemical’s North Andover facility in 2016 killed one worker and critically injured four others, and the explosion at CIA Inc. and Arnel Company, Inc’s Danvers’ ink and paint manufacturing facility leveled two dozen homes.

The more than 12,000 facilities covered by the regulations include chemical manufacturers, petroleum refineries, pulp and paper mills, chemical and petroleum wholesalers and terminals, wastewater treatment plants, agricultural chemical distributors, midstream gas plants, and food storage facilities with ammonia refrigeration systems. There are 125 facilities in Massachusetts covered under the rule including waste water treatment plants, oil and gas terminals and manufacturers and distributors of chemicals and consumer products.

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