The Trump administration announced Thursday it will consider rolling back Biden-era regulations that strengthened safety requirements for workers at chemical plants, according to a legal filing.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has asked a court to pause legal challenges to the 2024 safety rules while it undertakes a new rulemaking process to “reassess elements” of the existing regulations. The EPA declined to clarify what specific changes would be made.
The Obama administration first tightened safety rules following the 2013 Texas fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people. However, during Trump’s first term, his administration weakened those regulations, arguing there was “little data supporting the claimed benefits”.
The Biden administration restored and expanded the rules, calling them the “strongest safety requirements ever for industrial facilities.” Critics warn that rolling back protections could increase chemical disasters, with Earthjustice attorney Adam Kron stating it would “put workers and communities at greater risk.”
The move comes days after Trump vowed to tackle toxic chemicals during his joint address to Congress, while also criticizing Biden’s response to the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio train derailment.
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